


Mi Cariño Mi Oscuridad

by MechanicalRoseBud



Series: We're All Sinners Now [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bad Dirty Talk, Body Horror, Dark Past, Lovers To Enemies, M/M, Old Dads Being Sad, Past Relationship(s), Past Torture, Rough Sex, Tentacle Sex, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-14 21:21:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 51,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9203639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MechanicalRoseBud/pseuds/MechanicalRoseBud
Summary: It starts on Christmas. There is a massacre and words to be had. The year doesn't get better. They fight and survive their encounters only just. Long seeded feelings are brought to the surface. Old resentments are rehashed. Death threats and angst galore.And some very inappropriate use of shadows and smoke.There is also a lava lamp.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a cross posting of an RP on the R76 RP Discord. There will be multiple POV changes during the story.

Reaper couldn't feel the cold anymore. The first idle flakes of winter dropped from the sky as his breath came in black curls of smoke dying white as his whole form shuddered. The owl mask gazed up at the sky and a brief, unfeeling shiver ran through him as the depths of black that lingered in the coat stole a chilling, deep blue.    
  
He didn't know why his form shifted with the cold, biting chill of the frozen landscape around them and he didn't care. It made him a terrifying sight to behold as the icicles seemed only another extension of him. Reaper only looked down from the vantage point sweeping down to the town nestled near a point Talon wanted for itself. He had only one mission: destroy everything. Destroy the Town.    
  
Soldiers, mindless pawns in Talon's schemes, shuffled uncomfortably behind him whispering amongst themselves before guns summoned from the wisps of snow gathering along his coat formed, "What are you waiting for?" His voice was vicious and the soldiers scattered like roaches, Reaper gazed at the town below once more. It was a decent size, a massive christmas tree lingered in the center and it was bustling with activity. A shame they would all have to die. No survivors. No evidence.    
  
He turned with a silent flutter of his black blue coat framing the icy glow steaming within. A violent flurry of snow and he stepped into the border of that town; soldiers dropping in from various points. Reaper held up his guns and aiming at the closest person near, he pulled the trigger. The shot was loud and echoes of it came from everywhere. Soldiers rushed into homes gunning down families at tables, women and children gathered around their fireplaces waiting for Santa.    
  
Reaper heard himself laughing more than he could actually feel it, the recoil of the guns reassuring as tossed them and morphed into a monster that ripped through the silent masses frozen at the beast lunging for them.

\-----

Winter was, unquestionably, the best time of the year. The holidays a large factor in this reason. Not so for the old soldier standing before the impressive tree. Not long ago he perhaps could have appreciated sight. Now it only brought back memories. Gone where the tactical gear and visor--replaced with civilian clothes. He could blend this way. A bone white jacket and matching ebony pants. Padded against the cold and a sharp cerulean scarf wrapped around his throat completed the look. Those on the late night streets barely spared him a glance. Still, tucked away in the pack slung over his shoulder, were the essentials.   
  
When the first shot rang out he tensed, going straight into defense mode. The flash of a soldier's uniform caught his eye. His feet crushed the snow, shoved him bodily into the nearest shadowed nook. The commotion was something he'd not heard in a long time. The uniform he recognized. It left a sour taste in his mouth. The satchel slammed into the ground, the zipper yanked open and nearly broken. Slipping into the gear of the vigilante was easy. Slipping into that that same mindset wasn't. Geared with visor and rifle, he rolled to the nearest cover. Two soldiers fell to well placed sprays and he kept moving.

\-----

There were pouring out of the woodwork, crawling and festering everywhere like bugs. The warm winter twilight was turning into a hellish night. When 76 shot two, three more seemed to their each of their places as homes lit up with gunfire and bodies leapt from windows trying to escape but only falling to their death on the edges of broken glass. Bullets flew in his direction, peppering everything around him in a sheen of ruby droplets and metal.    
  
Cheery music was drowned out by water screams and pleas being washed over with the sound of gunshots. Everywhere 76 looked there was mayhem and people screaming as they led themselves to their own doom by panicking. A cold, shimmering shadow fell over it all. Right in 76's vision a woman was ripped from the air and cold, biting air dig into his back as her flesh peeled before she fell silent with a claw materializing from the ice to snap her neck.   
  
She fell with a dull thud and over her body, from the snow whipping together a reaper with the glow of an ice colder than winter could ever being formed. The blackened owlish mask looked down at her and knelt for a moment as he trailed steaming black claws down the marks seared into her back. The blackened Reaper glowering with the soul of a frozen wraith stood as the jacket swished around its feet. It looked at the giant, shining tree and it growled, disgusted by the display that reminded it of times that had long past.   
  
The withdrawal was hard to catch as someone ran past and they were rocketed from the sharp blast of the twin shotguns that formed like ghastly icicles in Reaper's hands. No hesitation. Just execution.

\-----

This wasn't a battle. It wasn't a fair fight. This was a slaughter. Through the mess and the mayhem of the screams of the innocent and the bullets of the unjust, he dodged. Taking down those that would see this place turned to ash, the soldier rolled his shoulder and took down one of the infiltrators. The brute grunted. A sharp rifle butt to the head silenced any further complaints. Move on. Find the next one. More shots and more bad guys taken down.   
  
By the time he circled back to the main square, his breath was coming out in sharp huffs of icy air. His clip was half gone. An empty was already tossed away in favor of a new one. Clutching the rifle close to his chest, the visor told him what he would find before looking around the corner. The scene was something from a horror movie. There wasn't much else to describe it. The woman never stood a chance. He ground his teeth together, coming upon the scene at the tail end. He couldn't save her.   
  
"Reaper." The word was a curse--vehement and intoned with a the sharpness of a man finding his prey. Talon was one thing. The death of the innocent he couldn't prevent. It grated on everything--nerves and more. The senselessness of it all was for nothing. There was nothing special about this town. Helpless lives for the taking for no other purpose than to slaughter.   
  
The wrath had taken a new form. The icy blue color of the winter had taken form in his being. His pulse rifle came up, the shot fired out without warning, aimed for the wrath's body.

\-----

He didn't look in Jack's direction and despite a short stagger to the shot there wasn't much reaction. Reaper felt empty, he felt only vaguely aware he'd ripped the woman to shreds. The mark of his claws torn into her flesh a ghastly reminder. The mask glanced down at his chest as the black flesh knit itself together as the cloth sew itself back together.    
  
A shotgun materialized in his hand and he fired in 76's direction. He stepped forward and vanished in the maddening swirl of flurried snow. The only warning was the bang of a shotgun being fired as scatter shot peppered where 76 was standing. Winter itself seemed to heave up and nearly crush where he stood as the horrific monstrous maw of a beast made of inky blackness with rustling snow falling over it spurred into being. The girth of it slammed into the soldier sending him back as screams in the background died.    
  
The whole town was falling silent except for the efficient crush of red snow beneath military boots. They skirted from where soldier fell and pulled back as the monstrous formless wraith surged forward. Reaper did not take kindly to anyone who sought to hurt his combat rival.    
  
Reaper reformed after knocking 76 and his steps were hurried, form barely holding together with the sharp shadows steps as he circled 76. The shotguns in his hands tossed for new ones that he seemed to pull from the air itself. This was the only thrill he could chase now, the desire to hunt the man into the ground. Everything else felt hollow but the urge to bury this man under his foot, under his gun and pull the trigger. A shiver passed over him and it felt painful, almost sweet in a bitter memory.    
  
Flashes of a better time, of sharing cold days with a warm lover that was long dead in his mind. It wasn't him he was gazing at through rose stained glasses, it was a foolish doppleganger who wished large and fell hard. Ghosts.

\-----

Snow turned crimson with the heedless bloodshed, his rifle pierced the wrath's form. He watched the projectile go through and through. Not even the barest hint of damage. What was there knit back together like a minor inconvenience. When the shotgun appeared, he ducked, dodged, rolled to the side and came up on a knee behind the garish christmas tree. The image of the woman's twisted visage, her essence torn asunder, imprinted in the back of his mind.   
  
Gun fire and the screams of those being slaughtered echoed and slowly died down. There weren't many left to be taken by this merciless act. He darted out from behind the tree, felt the clip of buckshot against his thigh and gritted his teeth. Handle it later. For now avoid becoming nothing more than mince meat at the hands of two deadly shotguns.   
  
The chase--if it could be called one--lasted all of a minute. Even less in reality. The visor's read out displayed the danger before the wrath materialized in front of him. In the slick snow he managed to stop but only just. The sudden shortage of forward momentum ended with a harsh cut in his breath as it tugged on the open wound.

In the wrath's presence all heat disappeared. The cold was bone deep and frigid. Behind the mask he snarled, finger pulled the trigger and pumped the remaining half clip into the ice blue form before him. Heedless of the shotguns, it was a matter of survival now. The screams of the helpless had died. They were gone. Nothing to be done for them. Only the winter and him would remember this town's once peaceful community. The only warmth in his body came from the blood spilled across his thigh.   
  
Turning on his heel, using the shots as cover, he darted back across the square. Powerful legs, straining against the pull of an open injury, pushed him forward into a shoulder roll into an alley. Take a minute to catch his breath, the older soldier reloaded, focused on breathing, and waited. Listening. A wrath didn't make sound. But the other operatives did. Three more fell and now he looked for where the wrath had gone.

\-----

Reaper growled, reeling back at the shots, snapping forward only for his adversary to be gone. He didn't notice the tightening grip on the shotgun cracked the icy barrels as they dissipated and those sharp claws dug into his own blackened flesh. Pain was minute after suffering to become the monster he was now, there was nothing that could make him hurt more. The sensation of dark blood running through his gloves and turning to ice against his flesh only made the squeeze turn near sickening as black shards fell to the snow.    
  
Soldiers whispered their success and Reaper only nodded mutely. Lights burned into the darkening sky as winter clad hands threw burning bottles into homes. Flames erupted from the tender of corpses piled into buildings. No evidence. No survivors. Operatives started to fan out to lure out 76 but Reaper stopped them.    
  
"No, surround the town, burn the buildings around the perimeter." They hesitated before they moved out, Reaper was not to be challenged if they wanted to live. The icy wraith shadow stepped toward the glaringly bright tree. He was out in the open. He dismissed the red snow that darkened and spread from the burning buildings, the charred smell of flesh.    
  
Operatives pushing toward the outside of the town back in began to set fires to all the buildings there. Trailing long lines of gasoline as they fanned out. A circular cage that closed in the middle, toward the wraith waiting in the center.

\-----

The last cry of a dying child echoed in his head. Hands tightened around the trigger guard and barrel of the rifle. Behind the visor he snarled, refocused his senses to the situation at hand. Still that small voice repeated like a nail in his coffin--pounded down one after another until he was sealed away.  _ 'You couldn't save them. You didn't even try.' _ He tried to banish the thought. Tried to escape the way the word held truth like an iron fist around his consciousness. His fist slammed into the brick wall.   
  
His thigh burned. Slumped forward in the snowy ground, the cold touch of the frozen water seeping in through his clothing. He couldn't ignore this. Or the sound of those in the town losing their lives this night. It was in the past now. Dwell on it later. Light a candle for their souls when his wasn't in danger.  _ 'You couldn't save them. You didn't even try.' _ His teeth ground to the point of threatening to break.

Soldier closed around him. The distinct acrid stench of gasoline drifted towards him. The plan of the attackers became obvious. Burn the town down. Scare him out of hiding. Sometimes the simplest plan was the most effective. A strategy he knew all too well and one that made his chest lurch. The familiarity of the actions couldn't have come at a less inopportune moment. Nights spent wrapped around his other half, entangled together and relishing in the afterglow of a clandestine meeting between missions.   
  
"Focus." He palmed at the satchel. Removed a handheld device and pushed off the wall. The wrath stood imposing in the middle of the town square--just where he had left him. The device pressed into his palm crackled to life and landed at the feet of the wrath. It bucked and discharged a wave of electricity. He watched, waited for the brief explosion to dissipate, then observed what the device had left in its wake.

\-----

Reaper thought it was a grenade until it surged and cause an inhuman screech to sound from the freezing blue wraith as he recoiled. His mask shattered and dissipated into nothing as various parts of him simply fell away like rotten flesh. One clawed hand was thrown up as his other arm was frantically reforming, nanites that had been unaffected putting Reaper back together.    
  
Glaring at him through the talons of his claw, a sharp poisonous black eye gazed at while the rest of the face was a monstrous mass of several, red eyes glaring and a formless, ripped mouth stretched obscenely revealing rows of sharp, gnarled teeth. White hairs curled from the top of a head that was no longer hidden in a hood, the sweeping coat also missing having dissipated with the electric charge.    
  
The most jarring aspect was as soon as that claw pulled away and half a familiar face was revealed. Claws gripped to shotguns forming in them as Reaper aimed, black and red eyes slitting in anger before they fired. The monster wore Gabriel's face, an older white haired man whose face was twisted into something akin to a nightmare. "Die! Die! Die!" Bullets sprayed in a wide fan at 76.

\-----

Through less than ideal means he had come across the information in Athena's database. A faulty shield generator had disturbed the wrath's form during an infiltration. The device now was the result of too many failed attempts and at least one blown up safe house. It was the reason for his unusual home white armor. The notorious blue and red outfit had been disintegrated in the fire. He had a replacement waiting for him two countries over. It was supposed to be his next stop after visiting this town.   
  
Abruptly pulled from his thoughts, the old soldier bite down on the gasp. The wrath's cry was inhuman but the mess of a visage that appeared from behind the mask wasn't. Too familiar. Thrown back into the past he stumbled, left giving out and placing him on a knee. The movement jarred his wound and caused him to groan out of sudden pain.   
  
"Get it together," he snarled at himself. It wasn't the time to remember the past. Bullets did real damage no matter what kind of injections or training he had been given. None of that could deflect a bullet aimed for his heart. Nor did it stop the buck shot that caught his shoulder and opposite hip.

Stumbling up, he scrambled for a second electronic displacer and watched when the piece dropped to the snowy ground. He lost it in the white. Blood turned his ivory clothing a shade of unnatural crimson. It mirrored the surrounding and he backed up. The pulse rifle came up and a round of helix rockets knocked him off balance. Against the pain and anger at being forced to face his last he groaned.   
  
He didn't wait to see if the rockets hit home or not. He took off as fast as his wracked body could handle--searching for a way out. A means of escaping to lick his wounds and wonder why the past didn't stay in the past. Nothing from Overwatch stayed dead. First his own mockery of a funeral. Then Ana. Now... Gabriel. He shook his head, growled, and nearly careened into the shambles of the nearest house. The interior was set for dinner. The bodies littered the common room. He closed his eyes. Blocked out their expressions and moved to the back of the building. There he leaned on the wall, panting, taking stock and searching his satchel for the biopic emitter he knew was in there.

\-----

Reaper spun into a flurry of nanites that scrambled away from the helix rounds. He'd seen what they'd done before and his form smashed back together, the hood and a flowing jacket back as the wraith growled in anger. There was blood trailing into one of the last houses to be burned and he disappeared when his boot crunched in snow stained black with his blood.    
  
The house was quiet for a long moment as dark speckled wind swirled into it as the wraith formed from it. A tan, scarred face looked at the home as shotguns materialized around his claws, already settled on the trigger. It was a small house and he stomped his back to the back before catching sight of Jack as he jammed his shotgun into the man's throat while the other dug hard against his chest. Viciously knocking the bag out of his hands as his secondary gun disappeared when he shoved sharp claws against the soldier's chest. Slamming him against the wall and enjoying the dark smear it left. He hoped it hurt, hoped the scatter shot was digging into the man's flesh at that moment. "Game's over, soldier." The voice was viciously dark and grating as sharp teeth ground over the words as Reaper spoke.    
  
His eyes, black before, were a bright vicious blue that bled steam that flowed from between ground teeth in his mouth. White hair curled from his hair peppered with the obsidian curls that had once been there before. Scars chipped along the strong jaw there and hate was bleeding off the form in front of him. More teeth shown from the tattered remains of a cheek, bleeding out more of that icy smoke as the gun against his throat dug in harder.

"Any last words before I put you out of your misery?" It was dark, chiding as if this was the only true pleasure he could pull this. In a way it was, Reaper felt how he was leaning toward it. Actively wishing to see the soldier's blood spread across the wall behind him, see him die in a dead town razed to the ground. Everything else in his life had been buried under mountains of ash, why not this too?

The electricity hadn't worked. The creature that had perhaps once been something more was truly unstoppable. No heavy combat boots or harsh words signaled his own demise. It was simply there. Cold metal pressed to his exposed throat. Claws ripped into the thick fabric of a heavy leather jacket. The mocking grin painted onto his mask stared emotionless back at the wrath. He prayed it infuriated the creature--he couldn't think of the wrath as anything else. To do so would ruin what remained of his sanity.   
  
The teeth. The cry of agony as his back met the stucco wall. The dips and dried cracks in the material dug into the wound on his shoulder. The satchel laid on the ground forgotten. He had a third device in there. He couldn't reach it. There was no third chance. The old soldier raised his head, eased the pressure of the shotgun against his throat and glared back at the wrath from behind the visor.

The wrath--Reaper--no what remained of Gabriel was a sight. Given the blue tinge of the glass of his visor he could appreciate the way the smoke took to the ice environment. Jack could admit to seeing a certain beauty in the unholy. There was truly no other way to describe the sight. Drifting with the snowfall, surrounded in blue and white until the very armor of the wrath became something I touchable he gulped down a deep breath. The words, that final question... There was only one answer.  
  
" _Quién sabía que la muerte era tan hermoso?_ " He ground out. Years of trying to impress his lover with his poor pronunciation and attempts to learn cumulated in that one sentence. This was the end. He could accept that. He would leave one parting jab to be remembered by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!
> 
> Note: _"Quién sabía que la muerte era tan hermoso?"_ === "Who knew death was so beautiful?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added a few tags.

Reaper was fingering the trigger when he felt soldier gulping, the motion of it digging the barrel in harder but it didn't stop the raspy voice from speaking.    
  
Those words. Only one person would ever dare to speak words like that to him. The claw that had been digging into 76's chest slid up to grip his throat as he tossed the gun, forgotten, to grip at the visor nearly ripping it off of the man's face. It felt like the ice had seeped into his chest as he couldn't even hear the discarded visor clatter to the ground when he worked it loose, letting it fall off. Numb. He only felt a sharp, deep numbness that filled him.    
  
Blue eyes. Blue eyes that were supposed to be  **_dead_ ** looking back at him. He had died. They had died. Jack had died and he had seen his body.  _ A voice in the back of his head mocked that he had died too but look where that had gotten him. _ Reaper--Gabriel was shaken. He pulled away, suddenly clinging to the ghost that had been haunting him, laughing away sweetly in memories he desperately tried to forget.    
  
Horrifying. Fear. Scared. Claws sunk into his cheeks as more of that icy smoke slithered through his hands. "No. No. No. You're dead.  **_You're dead._ ** " Gabriel couldn't feel the ache and burn of tears brimming as they rushed down his face. He had watched him die. Jack was dead. Gabriel was screaming, his mouth opened in a pained wail as he dissipated into nothing. Retreating. His mind was creaking under the weight to the extent he couldn't get out of the house fast enough. Still screaming, tears blurring his vision as he reformed outside, clawing into the snow. Black tears filling his vision as he couldn't hold back the screams leaving his throat.

Pain. So much pain filled what had been an empty chasm buried deep in his chest. Decades of a broken man he shoved into the pits of a monster and he was back again. Shattered under a revelation that shouldn't have been a truth. Monstrous and broken, he was only Gabriel, a man weeping in the snow in a dead town.

**\-----**

He winced. The visor connected to sensitive neurons and having it ripped away blossomed pain through his head. Eyes slammed shut. They only opened at the first scream. It was inhuman. The beastial cry of an animal in extreme pain. An agony so deep that no amount of relief could be given to overcome it.   
  
Truth be told he felt the same yet self preservation over rode the need to recoil. A defensive mechanism. His brain registered the fact but hadn't thought on it. Gabriel stood as a ghost of a man in white clothing and shimmering in shades of eerie blue. This wasn't the same man. Too many teeth. Eyes filled with an insurmountable anger. Yet he wanted to reach out, yearned to touch and see if that hint of stubble across that mismatched face was as soft as his memory recalled.   
  
"So were you." He none the less groaned back. Released from the wrath's hold, the shotgun clattered to land by the visor, his body sagged against the wall. Landing on the unforgiving floor jarred his thighs and slammed his shoulder to the point he snarled, biting into his bottom lip. Gabriel's wail ricocheted in the dead house.

Watching the creature break down and leave he grabbed for the satchel. One emitter. That's all he had. Just outside he could make out the continued cries of Reaper ... His mind couldn't combine the two. Not now. Perhaps not ever. What was dead needed to stay dead and yet Overwatch liked to pull the Lazarus effect again and again. "Fuck this." He snapped to the empty house, snatched up the emitter and stumbled to where the wrath was curled up crying in the snow.   
  
The temptation to speak in Gabriel's language was there but he was not so sick or twisted as to torment the creature further. One hand clicked the emitter and he tossed it beside the creature. If it worked dandy. If it didn't he had done his good deed. The heart wanted to stay, wrap up the wrath, and seek a way to fix things.   
  
But Talon operatives came around the corner, barrels drawn, aimed at him and the soldier dove back into the house. He scrambled for the pulse rifle. One more round of helix rockets boomed against the alleyway. Walls crumbled down to block the Talon soldiers. He had a few minutes at best to leave or hobble to a usable vehicle. Find something he could hotwire and escape it... But he couldn't move. Staring at the hunched form of the wrath. His chest ached like a thousand pound weight.

\-----

Gabriel, Reaper, whoever he was now lifted himself up hearing gunfire and felt the baleful warmth of a healing shield. Lowering to one knee, he reached out and held the emitter in his talons. It was 76's--Jack--and it was quiet again. He was starting to hate the snow, more was falling again. Finally, after a few moments he stood his gaze still on his hand as the mask reformed over his face.    
  
His gaze was still uncertain, confusion lingering in the wispy spheres of his eyes before they disappeared behind the owlish mask. Reaper turned toward 76 as shotguns ghosted into clenched fists. They only made it halfway up before they dropped back down again. The wraith's shoulders sagged as a drawn out sigh filled the silence. It dissolved quickly before Jack was surrounded by a vicious flurry of snow that buried him ice. The sharp bite of cold dug in until it pulled away, leaving the old soldier splayed in snow overlooking the burning town. Reaper stood further away, arms crossed, as he watched the Talon soldiers comb the town. Effectively destroying the rest of what had been a quiet town.    
  
"Get out of here, Jack." The name felt like the sweetest poison, he hadn't uttered it in so long it almost seemed more of a prayer. The pain was still there, lurking and threatening to break free again but Gabriel tempered it for the moment. "We should have died that day." It was a tired shaking sigh that made Gabriel shudder but he stamped it, shoving the bile of it deep inside.    
  
He idly tilted his head up as more snow blanketed everything around them. Gabriel hoped desperately it would bury him too.

\-----

The rifle held to his chest. The visor discarded behind him. The satchel left with it. He prepared to battle tooth and nail out of the town to return to the life of a vigilante. One clip and who knew how many Talon operatives. He would fight to get out of the town, mourn the lives he couldn't save, bury them with the thousands of other souls he didn't save, and hide away to heal. It was a maddening process but it was a cycle and he could function with boundaries better than without.   
  
The rush of snow. The flurry of white and the gut punching movements left him staggered on the hillside. Taking a knee, coughing as his body tried to right itself, he dropped the rifle to the ground with a solid thump. He would be dead already if Gabriel wanted it. The wrath had had him corner, shotgun kissing his throat, only a trigger away from ending it all. Now that shadow of his former lover stood away, disinterested almost, ready to disappear and leave him stranded and wounded. He scoffed at the irony.   
  
"We did die that day." He barked. He had been accused of being cynical before. Why not live up to the blame. His thighs throbbed. His shoulder cried in pain. Jack slumped back into the snow. The cold bit into his leather gear and seeped through to his bones.Blood stained the white around his body. The pain before hidden back by adrenaline surged forward. He glared at the back of the creature parading around as a proud ex soldier and resisted the urge to spit in the face of the farce.   
  
"Movement requires legs. You've seen fit to disable mine." Jack snarled. Hiding behind emotion was an easy out. Hide away and think about what it meant to see Gabriel again later. His mind needed to focus on finding a safe place. His satchel and visor were at the death house. The Talon soldiers razed the town. Fires burned. His few possessions where as good as gone now. A small part of him wanted to throw snow at the wrath in ire and spite. He chose to do neither and staggered to his feet.   
  
Heavy combat boots shuffled through the snow, edged around where Gabriel stood, and limped towards the woods. A cave or maybe a cabin or something had to be out here. An abandoned gas station. Some place he could lie low and hopefully heal. Those injections had to be good for something. His foot caught on a hidden branch and he stuttered. His knee hit the ground, the rifle skittered away, and a vehement string of curses flowed from his lips.

\-----

There was a cold laughter summoned up from the wraith like figure. It was disgustingly cheerful, a ruefully mad sound as the body it came from quaked as if caught in a fit as it spun around. Claws digging into its own cheeks while the eyes gave away windows into a horrific, slow agony that was eating away at it now. Eating it alive like a parasite.    
  
"Well, we're doing a hell of a job of staying dead! Aren't we, Jackie?!" He kicked viciously at the snow. A snarl marred his features as he moved forward, faster as he blurred through snow like a mirage. "Want me to kiss it all better, soldier? Buck up and shut up, isn't that what we'd say? There's no room for pain on the battlefield." Gabriel parroted words they'd slung at each other, fighting to live through battles. Young, hopeful men who hadn't known better.    
  
"Pitiful." His voice was a rolling growl as he watched 76 stagger, it made his chest clench in the worst ways but he forced himself to watch. "Pitiful, old men." Gabriel felt a small wash settle over him as his shoulders sagged, "Where did we go wrong, boy scout? When did death become too good out of an out?" He wished he had died during that operation. Wished he had been allowed to die and disintegrate like the empty shell he felt like.    
  
Before he realized it, he had shadow stepped to the fallen 76 and was gave him a rough shove as he looked at the wound on his leg. "Can't even dodge a scattershot," the grumble was half hearted and the clawed glove settled over the wound. A crawling, slithering sensation slid over 76's skin as nanites broke from Gabriel's hand as the slow burn of them knitting flesh was unpleasant. Almost borderline agonizing. Gabriel kept his gaze there. It was easier.

\-----

Eyes as icy as the wrath's form glared over a blood spattered shoulder. His lip rose on a silent snarl at the taunting words--an idiom thrown back in his face with such disgust it physically hurt. "This wasn't a battlefield. It was a slaughterhouse." He didn't continue the thought. Wanted to add some grand euphemism about Reaper--Gabriel being the head butcher, the one wielding the knife yet couldn't form the words.   
  
The evidence was there. Clear before his eyes and still an echo in his head. On one knee, now facing forward, his hands clenched into the snow. The pinprick of a flurry settled against his cheek. It barely hid the year that followed as he swiped them both away.   
  
"We're too good for the grave. When death spits you back out where else is there to go?" Answer a question with a question because he didn't know the answer. He survived. The simplest answer. He became what the world needed and molded himself into the force required. Age and physical frailty notwithstanding, it broke down to a single notion--he did what needed to be done.

The shift in the air. Gabriel stood before him. That same mocking tone. He knew it. Knew it all to well but his memory matched it with a training mat or a shooting range not a snow hill overlooking a death field where they were the greatest of enemies. He jerked away, shoulder dragged back with the threat of further pain as claws held his body in an iron grip. His teeth ground together until his jaw sung with the agony. Jack's nostrils flared, eyes slammed shut, the knitting of flesh and little pebbles being pushed out absolutely agonizing.   
  
"At least look your patient in the eye. Or do you always fix your meals first?" He snapped. Self defense to grow agitated and bark orders. Old habits die hard. Jack tried to wrench his shoulder away and the wrath released it. Those clawed hands moved to his legs. The same process. By the end of it he was hunched over. Skin whole and slightly shaking at the exertion. "I'm healed. Now what?" He narrowed his eyes, blue specks of fiery light waiting for Gabriel's next move.

\-----

He wanted to feel agitated, wanted to feel angry and snap back with retorts but Gabriel found himself unable to do any of it. He let out a small snort at the words, "Too good for the grave, that's a crock of shit and you know it. Always the golden boy, trying to save the world." The tone was mocking and fond simultaneously.    
  
Gabriel focused on the 'healing' if he could call it that. It was a slight comfort to watch the squirming black act as tiny needles knitting wounds closed. He felt a perverse sense of accomplishment at the act, it was how his body felt with every wound like he was being knitted together with small biting mouths. He didn't retort to Jack's egging as he moved back a little, doing one more look over.    
  
It hurt to look at those blue eyes when he glanced up. He still cared. All this time later the feelings and thoughts around that man were supposed to be as dead as he thought he was. All of it felt like too much and he moved quickly, a claw slipping around 76's--Jack's-- neck jerking him close. Pushing foreheads together as he simply closed his eyes. He would give himself one moment, one lingering moment of dipping into the past. It was familiar. How many times had they pressed together like this huddled in some mud hole while gunfire ranged all around them.    
  
" _ Toma mi corazón contigo cuando vayas, _ " it was a small whisper, a slip from a part of himself he thought long dead as he pulled away, his claw cradled the sharp jaw he'd lavished long nights years ago. "Shut up and let me just have this," Gabriel growled out partially, "just for a minute." The desperation lined the rough voice, a neediness reaching out as sharp claws pressed to the back of his neck. An easy kill if he wanted, a single talon drawn across the throat.

\-----

"Yeah. Guess I am." His laughter was mocking at best. Self deprecating at the worst. Either way he was at the mercy of a trained killer. A shadow of a man who he once knew inside and out. Every twitch and every tell that would alert him to what came next. With the wrath there was none of that. Jack was truly in the dark. He loathed it.   
  
The steely touch of claws against his throat--one slip and death would meet his rifle again--and he only leveled an even flare at the unmasked phantasm. Too many teeth. Unholy eyes. Skin that shifted with the whim of Gabriel's being. There was so much that was the man and yet so much that was merely an echo of what once was. The skin felt off and wrong and Jack fought down the itch to recoil away. His chest tightened, clenched in on itself, one hand reached up to grasp the wispy threads of the stark blue cloak that covered Gabriel's body.   
  
" _ Ya me quitaste todo. ¿Qué clase de hombre sería si tomara esa parte de su corazón que aún está caliente? _ " He prayed he got the phrasing correct but his Spanish was rusty and abused. It was reserved for a lover who had long ago disappeared. What remained was a shell of the man and now it held him enraptured.

Jack tried to draw back, other hand coming up to clench in the fabric of the shimmering coat, pressed closer to their tentative connection. He suppressed the urge to close the distance. This creature had still slaughter hundred down below. There was justice to be served. His purpose came first and Jack jerked the pistol from his side holster. The barrel shoved into the mockery that was Gabriel's throat.   
  
"You're still my enemy. You still raved an entire town." He dug the steel into the flesh that wavered and threatened to give. His hand shook. He grimaced to try and hide the uncertainty. A body and mind that conflicted each other. The desire to please body and unable to do so.

\-----

Gabriel's came out shaky and hard hearing those words, his eyes clenched shut tight as the burn of it echoed in the back of his skull. It was bittersweet to hear him speak; a painful balm slathering over old wounds he thought healed over but still fresh. Still bleeding and draining him, he was only minutely surprised there was no blood staining the front of his coat.    
  
A mirthless, empty chuckle slipped from the monstrous mouth as the claw slid away. Leaning into the gun he gave a soft, vicious smile. They had been at this crossroads before, when Jack had learned what he had done in Blackwatch. Missions where entire towns and homes vanished off the map. "I've done much worse, Jack and I didn't have to be a dead man to do it. There is no justice, never was." He pulled away, everything inside of him wanted to just give into the desire to stay there, to bury himself in Jack's sweet words.    
  
"You're a fool doing a fool's errand, Jackie. You haven't changed at all," Jack was a blind, foolish man back then believing in justice always winning out. When would it win out for them? It hadn't saved them from the blast that kill them all and then jerked them back from the bowels of hell. It wasn't serving them now, making them see old ghosts back in human form. It was a cruel joke that dangled a happy ending in front of them like a piece of meat. Jack was a fool for chasing that meat still, it was nothing but a spoiled, rotten lump now.    
  
"No one is spared," a shotgun reappeared as the mask slid back over the once familiar face. It was aimed at Jack, "When are you going to get that through your thick head, hero?" The question was poisonous, almost forced. Old rifts again.

\-----

That old argument. Again and again. He was truly sick of heard it. Tired of listening to the same words--a wheel of excuses and double talk. Jack tightened his grip on the pistol. Used the handle to bring himself back around to the present. The past had a place and it wasn't here and now. "I know. I know you have. I know you will." He wasn't pleased with how tired his voice sounded. How strained the words came out. The pressure of the pistol loosened. The threat still there but the ability to back it up long gone.   
  
When the mask returned, the shotgun present once more, he backed off. There was no other option. What Gabriel said rang true and he couldn't deny the truth. "Never. Apparently." The pistol dropped to his side. His other hand reached up, touched the mask now concealing the wreckage visage that mocked what Gabriel used to be. A tough gloved hand touched the owl facade, death incarnate, and his thumb traced the sharp edges of the bone mask. His breath came out in a stuttered sigh. Resignation exhaled into a misty puff between them.   
  
"Are you going to kill me? Put an old man out of his misery? Rid your boss of one less parasite stuck to the underside of your boot?" Though the sentence was snapped out he couldn't muster the hard edge or harsh tone necessary to make them stick. Jack's fingers hooked under the mask, gave it a slight feeble tug, then the arm fell down to his side. Rocked back onto his heels, the chill from the winter now cutting into his clothing, his head fell down until his shoulders slumped forward. The pistol was holstered, safety in place, no longer a threat. Defenseless against the shotgun mere centimeters away from his heart.

\-----

Gabriel wanted desperately to sink back into that cold, numb wall he'd built around himself and buried inside. It was cracked, old feelings seeping in distorting his judgement. Always Jack. The broken, festering wound in him was always the other man, it would always be.    
  
He couldn't move. Couldn't trust himself to move when Jack reached for him, touching the mask and looking at him with sad blue eyes. A kicked puppy. Jack had always reminded him of a puppy unable to realize it'd been condition, now he looked like an old dog beaten within an inch of its life. It was a bit more closer to the truth than he liked.    
  
Gabriel growled at his taunting and he willed himself, willed his finger to squeeze the trigger. End their little game of cat and mouse. Soldier 76 was a thorn in his goddamn side and Talon's. It would be easy. Reaper could gun down 76 and laugh.    
  
But he wasn't Reaper now, even with the mask, and gun. He was a shattered man named Gabriel aiming a gun down at a man he had once dreamt of spending his life with. He was alive. They were alive and he would kill him. The trigger. He had to pull it. Gabriel sighed his weapon dissipating into nothing. Useless. He was as useless as the man in front of him.    
  
"We're pathetic," Gabriel shook his head laughing dryly at their situation, they had been chasing each other so long and now they couldn't even pull the trigger. Hilarious. "You were dead. Now," he shrugged, at a loss, "there's too much here. What have we done, Jackie? We're all fucked up from the doe eyed young men we used to be. What did we do to deserve this?" It was a hopeless question, no real answer to be had but a question that infuriated him nonetheless.    
  
He shook his head sadly, letting it hang as he breathed out ice,

"There's no time." Despite his words, he was pulling Jack against himself, the talons sliding behind his head slotting their foreheads back to leaning on another. The other hand gripped onto Jack's hip pulling them against each other, it was familiar. "You have to go." It was barely above a whisper. He wanted to say everything; apologize, beg, scream, question but there wasn't any time for that. Time was not on their side for nostalgia. They would be done soon if they weren't already from combing the town.

\-----

"We fought." It was the simple answer. The easy answer. The surface. What lay underneath was the dark underbelly of things left unsaid. The shotgun fell away, dissipated into nothing. He would never get used to the damage those weapons did yet seemed to disappear at the slightest whim. The whole thing was uncanny and sent a chill down his spine. Such an easy weapon to wield--there when needed and hidden when required.   
  
"We dared to live." Jack choked out, allowed himself to be pulled into the cold embrace. It was death incarnate holding him tight. The familiarity of the touch wasn't lost on him. The older soldier's mind filled in the gaps. The hard lines of muscle and the warmth that Gabriel had emitted like a walking furnace. Many nights where the other man would complain about cold feet on his calves. Simpler times for simpler men.   
  
His hands fisted into harsh kevlar of the Reaper's clothing. He heard it creak under the strain. With a will that wasn't there Jack forced himself to his feet and glanced at the burning town. Small specks of black that could only be Talon roamed closer to where they held vigil on the hill. Time was running out. Pushing away, he headed into the woods. His visor was gone. His pulse rifle as well. Burned or taken as evidence by the operatives in the town. Back to square one. Jack scoffed, gave one last look over his shoulder at the hunched form of what had once been a proud man and set off into a jog into the thick woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!
> 
> Note(s):  
> \- _"Toma mi corazón contigo cuando vayas."_ === "Take my heart with you when you go."  
>  \- _"Ya me quitaste todo. ¿Qué clase de hombre sería si tomara esa parte de su corazón que aún está caliente?"_ === "You already took everything from me. What kind of man would I be if took that part of your heart that's still warm?"


	3. Chapter 3

**_About One Month Later ..._ **   
  
The warehouse was supposed to hold the newest shipment of experimental weapons. His visor still hadn't been replaced. Instead he used a ski mask to cover his face. Real pathetic but given the circumstances he didn't have a choice. The skull and teeth hastily drawn onto the fabric were a bare mimic of the one etched into the visor. The crate with the rifles was enough to locate--Talon enjoyed their labels. Made his job easier. Jack had tossed one over his shoulder. A second held against his chest. A satchel full of rounds slung over his other shoulder. Now, standing just feet away from where he had entered, two soldiers looked over the hole he had cut. Found out. Cursing, Jack pressed against the wall, waited for the men to leave before he could dash out to the hidden vehicle.

\-----

Shadows behind Jack squirmed to life as a clawed hand reached out and slipped over the man's face. It was quick as it jerked him back, tossing him against the wall as the shadowy mass of Reaper, decked in the familiar black and white mask, faced him.    
  
"What have we got here?" The voice was more curious than accusing, "Looking a little undressed, boy scout." A sharp talon tapped at Jack's nose hidden beneath the ski mask. He hadn't recognized 76--Jack-- at first but the glaring huge number on his back and familiarity of the jacket had been a dead giveaway.    
  
"All you have to do is ask, golden boy." Holding out his free hand, nanites squirmed and undulated before the familiar mask appeared in the wraith's grasp. "You look ridiculous," the mask was tossed at Jack as he released his grip to let him move again. It was still tense, Reaper was watching Jack with a critical eye beneath the bone white mask and put some distance between them.

\-----

Eyes widened at the feeling of the claws. Yanked against the wall, shielded in by the imposing form of Reaper, he growled. It was more of annoyance. The clatter of the rifle against the wall was loud enough to announce his presence to the soldiers looking curious at the hole in the wall. So much for sneaking out unnoticed.   
  
Gabriel's snark hadn't died with the human body. It was a blessing and a curse. The memories associated with late nights dealing backhanded compliments while wrestling for dominance amongst thin military issue sheets sprang to the forefront of his mind. Teeth gritted behind the thick fabric of the ski mask. A tiny part of him wanted to lash out and bite the offending appendage. If only because the action would be churlish and unexpected and perhaps give him the break to dash out of the warehouse. That time ago rehashing old lives in a hill overlooking a burned village hadn't been forgotten.   
  
"Didn't get a phone number last time. Wasn't aware Reaper was into older men." He snapped back. The rifle cradled to his chest adjusted, gloved fingers touching the offered mask before grabbing it. Striking quick like the visor would disappear in a heartbeat. "I prefer the blue and white. Less Gothic." Jack said without prompting. The ski mask was tugged off, a hand run through his hair to loosen the matted strands, and the new visor snapped into place as though it never disappeared.(edited)

Sight adjusting to the neuron feed and finding the weight and sense comforting and familiar he glanced once over Gabriel's shoulder to see four soldiers now standing by his busted entrance. So much for leaving unnoticed. "You going to let me go? Or are we doomed to another heart to heart?" His hands grappled with the rifle, shoulder rolled to adjust the bag. Now with the visor in place he could hide the way his eyes betrayed him. Gabriel did the same. The mask hide more than just their scars after all.

\-----

Gabriel snorted indignantly behind his mask, attempting to hide the shock at the fact he had  _ just been sassed. _ The taste was bittersweet how nostalgic and familiar it felt. Poisonous. Everything was borderline mania; his mind was trapped in the past. Jack's reckless hope and sense of justice darkening into his thoughts of his own muddled, distorted morality.    
  
"I usually have higher standards," The sharp click of his tongue distorted only slightly through the mask. Reaper stiffened as silence dragged a bit with the choices Jack tossed down, "We need to talk." He said it simply, had been thickly rolling the words in his mouth and finding no other way than to simply spit them out. Reaper--Gabriel-- wanted answers and they had both been too overwhelmed to ask anything of merit.    
  
A tilt of his head toward the entrance only made a dark chuckle roll out of him, shadows lurched at Jack and nearly smothered him in the thick blanket coating him before it pulled back. They were now standing in a hollowed out building, destroyed from years of neglect and scavengers attempting to take anything not nailed down. Reaper dragged talons over a broken counter as he walked in the decent sized room they'd ended up in. Shattered, dusty chairs were scattered all over the place metal corpses. The walls were crumpling, showing sleeves of the outside.

\-----

He balked. Drew back, attempted to escape what his instinct screamed to avoid. There wasn't a shotgun but it would take a second for one to appear. In the span of time between answers he hesitated, mentally made the steps to dodge out twice, and found himself a coward both times.   
  
The ground jerked. His stomach didn't exactly follow. Somewhere between the warehouse and their current location his gut had decided to play catch up. When it did he staggered forward. The rifle in his grasp clattered to the floor, behind the new visor his breath came out in massive dry heaves. His body battling to right itself.  _ 'We need to talk.' _ Like a parent reprimanding an errant child--somehow fitting.   
  
"Those standards don't extend to your choice of housing," he muttered. With no knowledge of his location or discernible means of leaving the satchel and other rifle were set onto the counter. The first leaned against the side. The ski mask tossed atop the whole ensemble. He ran a hand through his hair and took in the surroundings. "Homey. Give me the name of your interior decorator." Jack crossed his arms then, back balanced against the counter. A decent space between them but within shooting distance ... Or touching. Most likely the former.

\-----

"Jack," the name was drawn out into a long suffering sigh; an old habit. He was near the other side of the counter, back still turned to Jack before he turned down. Those talons went from skating to leaving deep grooves in the already destroyed counter. Just one more mark in something already broken. He finally had his chance and he felt it was somehow still wrong.   
  
Reaper leaned on the counter as he pulled back his hood and the mask fell away. He couldn't be Reaper for this conversation; cold and calculating would only make an argument. The white hair was mostly obsidian again and his eyes back to being shades that danced between red or black. He stayed like that looking Jack over.    
  
"Cut the bullshit, old man." His chiding was there as he shifted, "What led the golden boy of Overwatch to this?" There was that mocking but fond tone, creeping into his voice again. "What's holding you back from being their knight in shining armor again?" He was actively curious. At anytime, Jack could have stopped wandering like a fugitive and retaken his position as beacon of hope, of justice. The thought made his teeth hurt and that's saying something. Plumes of dark smoke trailed from his body, from the gaping hole in the side of his mouth as eyes opened and closed to watch Jack.

\-----

The white was gone. What he saw instead was too close to the original. The teeth and gaps were new but the idea of what should be Gabriel Reyes was there. Right in front of him. A stark reminder of those times decades ago now it seemed.   
  
Then the question. The one he knew was coming. It was inevitable. Reports he had gotten from hacking into systems told of Talon's attempt on Winston. How the group has tried to steal information. How Reaper had headed the objective. Jack just didn't believe it be this soon. Perhaps they would butt heads, trade insults, fall into old ways because the familiar was safer than reality. No such luck.    
  
"The name is tainted. It was my responsibility. Now it is my past. I'm better off fighting on my own terms." Jack smirked behind the mask, his elbow leaning on the counter, the facade of a man in control. "Besides last I remember you were the one who preferred being tied down." He pushed off the counter, stance easy, relaxed but ready for the backlash from his words.

\-----

"What happened to you, Jack?" The question softened a bit with Gabriel's voice, "When you dragged yourself out of the rubble of all our hard work," Gabriel tilted his head back as smoke slipped from between his razor sharp teeth, "Did you have enough time to see my corpse, before you fled?" That one was bitter, almost accusing. He knew it wasn't Jack's fault or his, but he couldn't help the slide of 'what if'.    
  
"No questions for me, Jackie? It's prime time to ask me those burning questions, golden boy." He sauntered over to Jack as he put that taloned glove on Jack's chest, "You were the one who wanted to fuck with the whisper of gunfire around us. In the air transport, in the middle of a fire fight, after we sparred," he dug the claws in until it touched skin, "After I came back from missions. What happened to that passion, Jackie? Did it die with you or are you spending more nights reliving old memories than I thought?"

\-----

There it was. Jack forced his head up, met the unmasked expression of what remained of his former other half. Perhaps he still was ...? Perhaps Jack was in denial and it was more than just a river in Egypt ... "I saw your corpse. Pinned under a support beam and nearly cut in half. I saw it. I see it regularly." He ground out. The emotion he couldn't hide. He didn't. Gloved hand clenched into a fist, the clawed hand against his chest, he tried to withdraw and put that distance between them again. Distance he could work with because distance kept him from facing the harsh reality of how real this meeting was.   
  
The grip didn't relent. His brows knotted at the pinpricks of pain from those sharpened steel tips. The way the wrath could so easily revert to his old nickname was an agony he didn't want to face. In return he found the name, the true name of the creature in front of him, wouldn't pass his lips. "Passion blew up long before the building did. Zurich was a chance to start on my own agenda. No strings. No pencil pushers. Is that what you want to hear? Golden boy doesn't shine so bright when you realize he doesn't follow orders anymore." Jack snapped. He tried again to jerk away, create space, get away from those claws and the memories.   
  
As for questions he had too many to ask. Narrowing them down was an insurmountable obstacle almost. Almost. "The town. They didn't deserve that. Do you enjoy killing women? Children? Or is it another meal for the Reaper's table?"

\-----

Gabriel fell silent and his gaze dropped to the floor between them, it was almost amusing how he could just sense Jack wanting to flee. Back in the day that had been him, always avoiding talk that ran deeper and peeled back uncomfortably close. He figured hitting rock bottom did that, made things like this seem easier. Dying wasn't a fear, he'd already done that.    
  
He could just barely feel bad for them; the shit hole that swallowed them up and spit them out as lesser men. If they could still call themselves men instead of shades that wore old faces. Those eyes jerked up hearing Jack fire that question, he should have expected it. He should have, but he didn't.    
  
"You still don't get it, boy scout." Gabriel let go of Jack as he stepped back and those clawed gloves dissipated leaving him to run fingers through his hair as he scratched at his cheek. It was painful but he barely noticed it how his flesh broke apart and dissipated showing more of those dangerous fangs.    
  
"Look at me, Jack." The voice was teetering on the edge of breaking into something he wasn't ready to face, "Have you ever considered in that pretty boy head of yours, what happened to me? Last time I checked, dying didn't make you a fucking nightmare." Eyes, too many eyes opened along Gabriel's cheek as the armor fell away, bleeding to simpler clothes. A black tight shirt and military pants, a simple attire he'd worn often in younger days.    
  
"They were nothing to me, Jack. Just another mission, another job." He said it simply no rose colored glasses to hide behind, "It's not the first and not the last, the only difference is that you were there. Trying to save everyone again, you couldn't even save yourself. If you hadn't spoken, you would be dead and ash right along with them." Gabriel sat down, brows drawn in tight. Holding onto his thought was clutching desperately to razors, painful and it was bleeding him dry. He never skirted the hard words and he wouldn't start now.

"I didn't stay dead." His words stuttered painfully in his chest as he gazed through a crack in a nearby wall, "They didn't let me die and this is all that's left. You know what it was like? Watching Angela work on me, unable to stop her from playing God with my life in the balance." He gave a hoarse, scratching laugh, "She did a bang up job, didn't she?"

\-----

When Gabriel stepped back, the claws disappeared, a man's hand took their place. It was unsettling. How easy the appearance could change. A wave of a hand and suddenly there stood the man--a mockery of a man--that haunted dreams and taunted him in nightmares. Jack grimaced as the skin flaked away. Fangs revealed underneath. Too many ways for the size of Gabriel's head left Jack feeling uneasy. The mask and visor still attached to his face was the only barrier he had between the gilded fantasy and harsh reality.   
  
"They were going to die if I was there or not..." He said it almost to himself. The words barely above a whisper. If he hadn't spoken he would be dead. Perhaps that would be better. But the citizens were already dead by then. He had been the last living human in the town, pinned down by Reaper's claws and on the edge of eternity. Jack knew what luck was. This wasn't that. This felt deeper. Not so superstitious as fate but something greater perhaps moving his chess piece into place.    
  
He watched Gabriel--it was Gabriel with the cargo pants and all just as he remembered--sit down with the resigned huff of a man tormented by demons far too large to explain at once. "I didn't-" He stopped himself because he couldn't deny this now. He could claim not knowing but it was a lie. If it could be done once and he knew Gabriel's body was left in the rumble what would stop a second attempt at restoring human life. What went wrong was the question now.

"Do you want to die?" It took long quiet minutes for him to summon the courage to ask. Could what Gabriel was now even be killed. The electricity did work to interfere with the nanites but could it end the millions of tiny machines' existence. As a last mercy the offer to attempt to end a life prolonged against its will seemed necessary. Not for some heroic deed or noble cause but because, when it came down to it, they were dead men and Gabriel deserved the rest the weary words intoned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!


	4. Chapter 4

Those shoulders fell as Gabriel sighed, tilting his head to look up at Jack. "No, you should understand that better than anyone. You're still alive too. Through hell or high water eh, Jack?" Despite everything, Gabriel couldn't fight his urge, his hellish pull to stay living even as it tormented him endlessly. He could never lay down and die, it simply wasn't in him. Even with the pull of futility jerking him down into the darkest bowels with demons ripping his limbs. He fought his entire life, there was no other mindset that fit.   
  
"What are we going to do now, Jack? We're still a pair of fools now we're just older." He wanted to laugh, to cry to do anything but sit there and stare through Jack. Gabriel felt exhausted he had let a lot slide off of his chest and it didn't feel any better. He just felt tired. "Besides, all that did was hurt like hell." Gabriel gave a dry chuckle, "Come here, Jackie boy, I'm tired of talking and I think I'm due another look at that pretty face." It was strange, hearing those words but it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be.    
  
"I'll always kill people and you'll always save them," There wasn't any despair or hopeless just a simple observation. "There's no middle ground just heaven or hell. Oil and water, just like we always were." He said it almost dreamily his mind lingering on the idea of it as he shook his head with a small laugh again. This one still tainted with some pain but it was softer, lighter than before.    
  
He wanted to touch Jack, how long had it been since he'd seen that face. The destroyed town wasn't enough, he never had enough of gazing into those blue eyes. Not when they were younger and catching every moment they could snatch for themselves. It hadn't escaped his notice Jack hadn't said his name, the old man was still struggling with his own thoughts. What a stubborn ass. Jack hadn't changed a bit and that made his smile a little wider.

\-----

"It seems like a foolish promise in hindsight." Jack tried to interject some dry humor and failed miserably. He knew it by the slant to Gabriel's shoulders. By his own half hearted mirthless chuckle. Set to watch the way the wrath of a man moved, shifted and changed like the energy around them, Jack could only ponder on how events had melted to this extent. "For once I agree. About being older. Not fools. Just ... Tired is so cliche. Drained?" He phrased it like a question but, really, what better way to explain their feelings than just that. With cliches. Drawn out. Worn thin. Tattered and beaten and left to rot in the festering pool of their own sin.   
  
Yet he moved, crossed the space between them, crouched down before the half man half machine creature that composited his former lover. Former comrade in arms. Former friend. They had been friends once. Another cliche lost to time and overused until it was beaten within an inch of its life. Still it remained, tried and true, to describe their miserable shared existence.   
  
"Never figured you for one to wax poetic but age changes a man." Jack reached up, clicked the bindings on the visor and pried it off. He was inches from the ever changing face of the wrath before him. The battery of emotions rattled around in his brain and one stood out amongst them the most--sorrow. Not for himself. Not even for Gabriel. But for their actions. For the reasons they had to meet and come to this conclusion. So many times, he realized now, he had opportunities to reconcile and become the leader he needed to be. The friend and the comrade and the person Gabriel and Overwatch required. He had fallen short. Another cliche--like Icarus with his ambitions and godforsaken wax wings.

\-----

"I knew getting older sucked," Gabriel snorted, "at least you've still got your dashing good looks, boy scout." His eyes softened looking at Jack's face, he had only half expected him to actually listen. It put a sour taste to know he'd missed seeing that face and he reached out to touch the sharp jawline.    
  
"Still chiseling rock off the nearest street," it was a careful touch, he was waiting for Jack to fade back into his memories and slip through his fingers. The starkest jolt was that scar, he hadn't noticed it before too caught up in his nostalgia, it was an ugly jarring thing. More peppered Jack's face, beating up the young man that had worn those eyes once. Gabriel could touch Jack's face all day, even as tendrils of smoke broke off his fingers right outside his vision.   
  
Jack was still handsome. Still a pretty boy. He had spent years admiring the man from afar before they had been thrown together in a whirlwind. Memories of clawing at each other's skin, kissing to the point of pain and laughing through the night. Passion. Gabriel felt those old feelings welling up again and he pulled Jack to him. He was getting used to leaning their heads together again, they had done it on the field together to tell each other they were still alive. They weren't dead. Gabriel was trying to believe that.   
  
" _ Mi carino, _ " soft, loving words from another time slipped before Gabriel could catch them. He wasn't sure he even tried. He still ached for Jack, the pain was there. Doubts and lingering thoughts of betrayal hung in the back of his head but he didn't entertain them now. Later, when all he had were those thoughts and himself, maybe.

\-----

Not all of us got older. Any number of harsh countermarks sat on his tongue. He said none of them. It didn't feel like the time or place. He had been snarky before but given the somber tone that Gabriel now adopted, Jack felt that such an attitude was almost disrespectful. One of the curses of old age--put a lot of things into perspective. Giving up the small things like one liner jabs to understand when to speak and when to be quiet was another.   
  
"You always got the ladies." He winked none the less, leaned into the touch, allowed his defenses to fall away. There was no Talon here. No Overwatch. Nothing to seperate save their insecurities and problems. That had been enough in the past. It did not stop them now. The touch of the wrath was cool against his skin. The shiver was from the knowledge of the nanites that now sustained Gabriel and allowed him to maintain a corporal form. To think a small spark of electricity would be all it took to take down the great former Commander Gabriel Reyes. He smirked at the irony.

" _ Mi oscuridad. _ ." It wasn't said with malicious intent or even anger. The word was something affectionate. Like a shadow that he could never escape. Someone that followed him, trailed him, cared enough to make sure that if he were to die it would be at their own hand. That was an ironic comfort--if he were to die Jack was certain Gabriel would pull the trigger. Without hesitation perhaps. The morbid thoughts pushed aside, he leaned forward, forehead touched what counted as a shoulder for the wrath, breathed in the smoke and felt it sting his eyes, choke his throat. The pain was welcome. Jack didn't wrap his arms around the other. Just rested there, eyes closed, allowed himself the time to think about the past.   
  
"When will Talon want their best man back?" He finally broke the silence, face turned, rested against Gabriel's shoulder still. One hand dared to press palm flat against the man's chest. No heartbeat. Or perhaps one so soft he couldn't find it. Either way it cemented the state that Gabriel was forever going to be within. "You need a beanie. It worked better for the brooding look."

\-----

"I check in here and there, they don't like talking to me long." He gave a small chuckle, "I wonder why." Gabriel knew he gave off a terrifying visage when fully dressed and a swirl of shadows at his feet. "Being an edgy bastard has its perks." He said looking at Jack, it was strange having him close again. Everything still had a faint, daydream like feel to it.   
  
"You shouldn't breathe me in too much I'm probably bad for you," He hesitated before he looped his arm around Jack's waist, not pulling him close but it felt nice just to have it there. Gabriel scoffed at the remark and leaned into the hand against his chest, "I always hated that thing. I only wore it because you would give me those puppy eyes if I didn't. It always slid right into my eyes during missions, the damn thing was trying to kill me." He waved his free hand dismissively at the thought. They were falling into something old and familiar, Gabriel was sliding into the small biting tone and snark. There were other things on his mind but for now, he didn't want to think about them. If some respite could be found dwelling on past memories and mixed feelings, why not linger in it a little? They didn't have anything to lose.    
  
"Your shadow, huh?" Gabriel took one of Jack's hands, drawing his fingers over the pale ones and it brought a small smile to his face, "sounds about right. Someone has to keep tabs on your self righteous ass since you can't do it yourself." He intertwined them and stared at it, Jack was warm. Soft. There were scars nicking his hands where there weren't before. The thought bothered him; Jack had gained scars, experience without him around and the scars he remembered were only foggy memories.

"At least you're still got a nice pair of tits," The words were sudden and Gabriel gave a hearty laugh after hearing himself saying it, "You put even the more bustiest of females to shame with those knockers." The memory of those ladies having been so jealous had made him nearly fall over himself with laughter. Jack had never noticed but others had and that had been the cream of the crop.

\-----

He allowed his hand to be taken. Turning his head, cheek rested against the hard line of a shoulder, Jack stared at the cracked wall of the house. Where were they even he briefly wondered but dared not ask. Perhaps he wouldn't like to answer. Something told him not to question it. Even still he jerked away, eyes wide at the crass words. Tits? Really? His brows rose then narrowed as he stared at the wrath.   
  
"You're incorigable." Jack snapped but there wasn't anything harsh behind the words. He let his hand rested inside the other man's without complaint. It took a moment but he settled back against the solid weight presented, hand tightening around Gabriel's own, fingers holding on almost desperately. "If it weren't for the smoke I could almost pretend the past never happened." He breathed out the words, nearly believed them, but the town sprang to life behind his close eyelids. Somethings couldn't be forgotten. That was the last in a long line.

He laughed. What more could be do ... It was a harsh and choked sound. More smoke curled around his tongue and down his throat. The acrid taste and sensation were welcome. Made him feel human. At least he could still feel. "There are a lot of things bad for me. You're not top of that list." His hand pressed more firmly against the quiet chest. The sensation was odd and verged on unsettling. No heartbeat yet the visage of the man loomed beside him.   
  
"Still looked good on you." Jack murmured, leaned further into the chilled touch of what remained of Gabriel. Nearly in the other man's lap yet his arm didn't wrap around--didn't complete the circle and hold Gabriel tight. He wasn't that desperate. This was all too surreal. His body played catch up to a mind still denying the existence of the former hard ass.

\-----

"We're a little too old and battered to play pretend, Jackie." He closed his eyes as smoke slipped from between his lips and the gaping hole where his cheek should have been, "You're a man who likes to overthink things, I can even hear those gears turning." Gabriel knew.    
  
Jack could never forget, never forgive, the things Gabriel had done or would do. There was no compromise there, not even when they were younger. Jack would simply turn his cheek, embracing a man who spent his nights slitting throats must have been hard. Not for Gabriel. Killing had been something he'd always done and he had settled himself about it a long time ago.   
  
"Oh really? I remember being 'the worst' thing possible. What kind of vices could Soldier 76 have that are so jarring?" The hand pressed strategically on his chest, where his heart should have been beating, didn't escape Gabriel's notice. An idea crept into his head and he chuckled lowly as pressure lurched slamming into Jack's hand against his chest.

\-----

That was a loaded question. Eyes closed, head rested against the solid weight of Gabriel's shoulder, Jack contemplated the best answer. Given the time to think though perhaps he spoke too soon. There wasn't much worse than the wrath, the smoke curling and collecting in his throat and settling in his stomach. Would it ever leave now that he had allowed it inside ... Perhaps, on a small level, he did not want it to. Strange. But he could hold a part of Gabriel closer than any physical touch. Such an odd notion.   
  
"You were. Still are but I think my gears beat you on this. I'm my own worst enemy. Isn't that saying?" Jack snorted. He pulled back, stared at the gap where teeth like a shark's shown through. Too many eyes clustered together, crowding each other out for room across the shifting planes that was Gabriel's face. With a raised brow he jerked his hand away, glanced at the wrath's chest. "You've been holding out on me."   
  
He couldn't pretend to be surprised. He was. Very much so. The quiet within the chest he had clutched too almost desperately was unnatural--the sudden intrusion of a heart beat, no matter how artificial, felt almost wrong. Still the small comfort, those nights spent curled against one another, merely listening to the powerful pump within Gabriel's chest, letting it sooth him to sleep. He would be loath to admit to the idea but he missed it. It was Jack's personal lullaby.

Only he could hear it. There were nights were he would imagine it, listen for it until his ears bleed with the memories and he couldn't sleep for fear of waking to find his current life was a dream. A nightmare that never happened. He didn't want the present but he couldn't chage it now. To find it was a dream, all his deeds in the past years nothing more than an imagination, the good old boy within couldn't deal with that but Gabriel, seated before him, allowing him to rest a crown of white hair against a shoulder of ebony smoke was too real. It was that strange feeling of wanting to wake up and yearning to never see the light of day again.    
  
"Where do we go from here?" Jack leaned back onto his heels, crouched in front of the other man, hands hanging down between his legs, and head following, His summer sky blue eyes stared at the scars and callouses of his hands, clenched into fists, ignoring the way his legs protested the prolonged position of bent knees. Not a young many indeed. "I'll have to shot you. I know how to hurt you. It is odd, knowing how to disable an enemy and not wanting to. But I could do it. If my life was in danger, I could. Would you forgive me?"

\-----

"I've always got tricks up my sleeve, golden boy." It was a strange thing using those fond nicknames again. Nothing was the same as back then, Jack was older. His halo of gold was a little lighter and there were lines around those big hopeful eyes that were now a little less hopeful. The outline of bags were still there but now they were countered by the hard lines around his mouth. Scars littered his once flawless features, wear at the edges.    
  
Gabriel supposed he didn't look much better. Scars nicked across his face too, age and nanites having been slightly kinder but even they couldn't fix the wear of experience. When he was more human there were winkles around his eyes, lines around his mouth too and a nearly invisible touch of white threading through the curls that grew a little longer on his head. Being a shapeless mass of tiny machines made it easy to forget the little things but being here with Jack made them more prominent. Glaringly obvious.    
  
He didn't think they were shades, harsh murmurs of the past. Gabriel just thought they were different men. It was easy to default to being simply horrors who were left behind. They had choices. It was their own fault where they were now. A killer. A fugitive. A monster. They clashed so violently it was almost sweet. A dance of guns and threading the edge where either one of them could die first. Gabriel snorted at the thought, Jack was right, he was getting disgustingly poetic in his growing age.

Jack was always his anchor. Even now, touching Jack made a part of him feel grounded. It was easy to think of how firm and warm Jack's skin was through his jacket. How he had spent long nights worshiping every inch of the man trying to get deeper inside of him. Trying to bled them together into a quivering mass of  _ them _ . Jack had been his addiction, his optimism was contagious it had made him believe that maybe, maybe what he had done was worth it. That it would really bring around change and one day, they could just stop. Fairy tales. Foolish fairy tales of youth. Nothing had changed.    
  
Gabriel wanted to tell Jack the details; wanted to tell him how he screamed himself asleep during those experiments of his body. How he begged and cried with Jack's body still fresh in his memory, how he screamed to be allowed to die. He wanted a world without Jack as much as he had wanted to be saved. Hope had been stained with revenge, bitterness. Betrayal. Gabriel wouldn't say it. Wouldn't let those words slip out, there was only so much he was willing to share. Nights he spent screaming as his body broke apart and he couldn't hold himself together. How each time he fell apart and came back together was excuriating.   
  
Gabriel looked at Jack as soft red eyes gazed from a writhing black mass that tapered off, "I'd be disappointed if you weren't trying to kill me. Give me your best shot, Jackie." He didn't have any doubts Jack would aim to kill on the battlefield. They were different men out there, even before, it was a pocket in time. Right now, they were just old men with a lot of baggage. Out there, they were a fugitive and a mercenary doing their jobs.

"I'll be doing the same, boy scout. Never been one to hold back anyway," Gabriel hummed appreciatively, "My men already know, I'm the one whose going to put you in the ground." He said without hesitation meeting Jack's blue eyes. "We're going to fight like dogs out there; too stubborn to die but too proud to stop." Broken, shuddering shadows slid around Jack's arm. It was strange and cool almost like the body of a snake clinging to him.

\-----

It was comforting, serenely so, to know that if he were to die on the battlefield (a fact he has resigned himself to decades ago when Omnics were the threat and shotguns fire on his side) it would be a death found at the hands of someone who earned it. Rightly deserved the honor. Morbid. Morose. Definitely sordid but the truth was the truth. Gabriel would be the one to end his life. That's how it has always been. How it would always be.   
  
A death by old age wasn't right. A soft slow and quiet end to his story wouldn't do. Blaze of glory and facing down the into adversary who could ever hold a candle to him ... Jack smiled, truly smiled at the idea of his last breath. Imagined a peace his mind had never been allowed. No disease to end him alone in a hospital bed or hidden away like a kicked mutt, coughing up blood and bile until death curled around his heart. SEP and all its advancements be damned. He was still human. A luxury he almost envied Gabriel for. Almost. Being human meant there was an end and Jack knew it meant rest and a place to finally rest weary bones.   
  
Until then though he was going to fight. Tooth. Nail. Guns or fists. Didn't matter. Each time it would devolve into a knock down drag out brawl between His Shadow and himself and he wouldn't have it any other way. The hounds of war howling behind him, prepared to bring down the one who stood against him. Peppered his ideals with buck shot and who Jack would go after first to save a single life.

"I never knew the meaning of the word quit. I have a hard ass of a man to thank for that." Jack stared at the shadows, curled his fingers around the blackness until it swirled at his command. He tilted the hand back and forth, examined the way the smoke allowed him to toy with it, manipulate it until the tendrils sprouted from his fingertips like claws.   
  
His mind supplying the questions he dared not ask--was this a mockery of what Gabriel dealt with? Controlling his body to create abominations until he was the nightmare to half the world ... Jack clenched his hand into a fist, disrupted the shadows, watched them dissipate in an angry huff of specks. He turned his head, caught the sight of the red eyes, their uneven tempo of blinking and stares no longer as unnerving and he swung. His fist connected with cool solid shadows, knuckles nicked from the fangs, and Jack embraced the pain.    
  
For once not hesitating, allowed to let his will dominate, his rational mind rattled in its iron cage and screamed for sanity, his bloodied fist grappled with the fitted shirt. A fist full of make believe cloth he banged together, forehead aching, nose possibly bruised but he didn't care. Gabriel's solidity was perhaps fleeting yet for that single moment he could believe it was like old times, tucked away in corner of Gibraltar, McCree's obnoxious spurs about to catch them and Jack's kiss backed up with all the desperation of a drowning man. Fangs cut his lips. The copper taste drew him back. He reeled, stumbled, and barely caught himself to stare at Gabriel; the other man suddenly too close and too far. "Tell me where I am so I can leave. I shouldn't be here. We shouldn't be here."

\-----

Gabriel, in hindsight, felt like he should have known it was coming. He had been distracted, mesmerized really at the sensation of his shadows falling along Jack's fingers. He could feel the calloused rough skin on his palm through the thin fabric of the glove. Distracted by the memory of kissing along those hard worn hands having let his lips dance over the biting texture.    
  
Pain. Hot, sharp pain jerked his head to the side and groaned at it. If he had actual bones they would have snapped from the force of that hit.  Jack hadn't held back. Anger. Fresh, hot anger boiled and he was seconds from returning the favor but then Jack was closer. His mouth was soft, impossibly warm and hot against Gabriel. The anger gone. Jack was heartbreakingly familiar here too. He tasted like tears and Gabriel wanted to swallow him whole, devour the sensation of them pressed together. It was addicting. More. The dark, hungry need was foreign, another sensation he thought he'd forgotten rolling back into his body taking possession.   
  
Gabriel was aware of Jack pulling back but only vaguely aware he was talking. There was a long moment of just...being caught off guard. His mouth still tingled with the hurried kiss, the slightest taste of Jack on his tongue. He was bitter and tasted of metal but below that, he tasted of something bright. The sun. Jack had always been the shining one between them, why would he taste like anything else. Beautiful, tainted sunlight. Once the sun and now the moon. Soft, forgotten moonlight. Poetic, a part of Gabriel chuckled, there wasn't any room for sentimental old fools.

He threw Jack against a crumbling wall before he realized it, shadows scrambled to fill a half formed face. "Shut up, Jack." The words were biting and he ached, Jack was soft. His mouth firm and unforgiving, even as they slotted together. He wanted to fill Jack with his poison, the black shuddering dark that kept him alive. Gabriel was a man built on impulses and this was one he never regretted, it was less of a kiss and more of an attack. A violent shove of lips and Gabriel's body blocking him against the wall crumbling around them. Hands tangled in the jacket and pulling Jack into him, against a body that wavered at the edges.

\-----

The reaction was what he wanted. What he craved. When he got it Jack was unprepared and his head snapped against the wall. Plaster crumpled around him. The faintest tingle of something liquid crawling down into his collar could be felt. Blood. Pain and injury and Jack grasped at it all. Fought for a hold on his sanity even as Gabriel pressed his mind to the fall over the edge. The sweet empty abysss below called to him. Angry claws grasped at his legs and feet and all he wanted to do was give in.   
  
Words were useless now. Pushed into the wall, bleeding from another injury among many, Jack returned the embrace with the fervor of a desperate man. Black wisps of smoke crawled down his throat, coated his esophagus, and drank down more. Never before could they come together as such. He wanted it. Craved the pain with the pleasure. The fangs cut into his skin. More blood. More copper. The viscous liquid followed the shadows into his gullet.

"Gabriel." He broke away with a groan. Vision swimming, blinking to try and clear his vision. Definitely a concussion. His stomach flipped. Not good. Jack's hands grabbed the sides of the wraith's head, forced him to look into those searing red eyes. "Look at me when you kill me. Give me that honor. Let me see death coming." Jack knew it was a sordid statement but that was what Gabriel was doing. They had come to this conclusion. They would die at the hands of each other. There was no other option. If it was here or days, weeks from now didn't matter. Those eyes needed to see the last light of summer fade from him. Jack wouldn't have it any other way.   
  
Without preamble he took a second swing, fist aimed for the same cheek--something to create distance between them. Whatever Gabriel's reaction, Jack scrambled for dominance. Gloved hands grappled with the wavering form of his arch enemy, fought for a firm hold, one leg kicking out to try and unseat Gabriel. Crashing down against the wraith, Jack closed the gap again, teeth sinking into the murky flesh of Gabriel's bottom lip, a kiss of a drowning man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Added a few tags.

It was ecstasy. He could feel deep inside of Jack. Each forceful scrap of him pushing in deeper mingling into the warm blood that made their mouths slick. Jack's blood. The thought of it, the taste of Jack slipping on his tongue and filling his senses. He wanted Jack to fill him too. They were the snake eating its own tail; wanting to eat and be eaten simultaneously.    
  
His chest clenched at hearing his name; he felt punctured as if he could look down and they would be coated in his black blood. Nothing was more painful than hearing that voice uttering his name after so long. He wanted to melt; to dissolve into nothing under Jack's gaze, "As if I could ever look away from you, Jack. You're the only thing I've ever seen." The words were out before he could catch them; words he never got the chance to say before when they were younger. Happier. Gabriel only strove to be content even if it was achieved with a grip slipping in the blood of others coating his hands. Jack.  _ Jack _ .    
  
"Jack," it was almost a sob and Gabriel hated how he sounded; too close to shattering under the onslaught of all of it. Passion. Pain. Agony. Ecstasy. He didn't even try to prepare himself with the other hit and it sent them both tumbling to the ground. God, when Jack hit him it felt like a freight train was smashing and scattering all of his senses. His mind felt scrambled, a mess that tried madly to form some semblance of rationality.

A grunt slipped through as they crashed to the floor and his back took the brunt of it. He wasn't sure how he felt about Jack beating him up like this or the fact he was aching for it. More. It had been ages since he felt anything but the harsh turmoil of his own thoughts eating at him. The dark hungry ache that swallowed everything whole and it was terrifying. Pain. Jack. Pleasure. It was all the same thing and he was straining, leaning into the assault that made him feel more than a nightmare.   
  
Gabriel hissed as he dug hands into Jack's chest, fighting with the jacket, his mind scattered by the hit unable to focus. "You hit like a fucking pansy, boy scout. Put some weight behind it," He growled taunting him, "and take off the fucking jacket." The snark was edging back into his voice along with a rasp that betrayed him.

**\-----**

As Gabriel shattered he collapsed. The weight of it all coalescing into a single point and sending him into a downward spiral. He welcomed the feeling. That one word--one name--broken the wraith and Jack heard it. Felt the breaking in the way Gabriel's hands sought out the old soldier's flesh, fought against the tight, form fitted confines of the gaudy jacket, and the way the shadows crept, wrapped around his insides with a vice grip.   
  
Blood. Pain. Self-loathing. Desperation. All of this was a maelstrom gathered between them, the eye of the hurricane where their bodies crashed together. The goading only drove him. Jack reeled back, breaking away, straddled across the thick muscles and familiar shape that his mind could never forget. The feeling of Gabriel under him. It was a power play that they never ended. One was always on top and the conclusion was always the same--tied between two giants fighting tooth and nail to gain the upper hand. Neither returned the victory. There were no spoils at the end of this war.   
  
"I learned from you." Jack snapped, leaned back, the jacket ripped off in a matter of seconds. It was hasty, exaggerated, and wholly wanton. His teeth yanked the gloves away, the gloves dropped to the rotten ground of the abandoned house. His knees ached from where they hit the ground. Jack ignored that pain, brought it in with the rest of his agony, focused it into an onslaught. Bare hands grabbed the wraith's evaporating head, pressed his forehead against Gabriel's and merely breathed in the smoke.   
  
"You always were eager to get my undressed. Some things never change." There was a bite to the words that Jack didn't feel. His chest ached, too tight, and there was a pressure where his heart should be. They could fuck or fight. There never seemed to be a middle ground anymore. Fighting had always been the outcome. Now, identities torn free, and their battle shoved aside, Jack felt his gut twist at the only other option.

\-----

Gabriel felt chills roll down his spine watching Jack toss off his jacket, nearly bite through his gloves to get them off. It was primal. The comeback earned a snort and another delicious shudder rippled through him as Jack brought them close. There was something obscene with how Jack breathed him so easily, how he just swallowed lungfuls of his essence and let him bled into his insides. He was tempted to force Jack to swallow all of him, bury himself in the other man's body and infect every inch of him. Drag sharp claws through his ribs and crush his heart in his hands, bury the remnants in his mouth.    
  
"I remember you sure love to fucking talk," Gabriel felt like he was going to crumble into pieces, "Not my fault you wear too many damn clothes." He couldn't help touching him, couldn't help it like he couldn't help anything they had done. They were like water and oil but sometimes...sometimes they were magnetic and the force of it destroyed everything else that was wrong with that. At least for a little while.    
  
Jack was intoxicating. His skin warm, scarred and beaten, it was beautiful. Touching him was delving his hands into a dream and he could feel Jack's heartbeat. It was steady almost stubborn just like the man it kept alive. He closed his eyes just lost himself in feeling of it; nostalgia slipped back into him and it was like they hadn't aged. How many long hours of the night had he spent mapping out Jack's every curve and angle. Hands, lips, teeth that had etched out every inch and he felt the urge to do it all over again.

"Shut up and fuck me, Jack." Gabriel huffed impatiently as his hands grew sharper as he ripped the black shit that covered up that pale skin, and dug them into his skin drawing out long red lines.    
  
"Hopefully you've learned how to fuck someone over the years. Your little rabbit thrusts aren't going to cut it this time," He was merciless and arched up hissing at the fine line of sensation that cut through him rolling his hips against Jack. The first punch had made his cock jump and the second had left his wanting, thirsty for anything else Jack could throw his way. They had done this power play before; switching, driving each other mad from either side and it was natural sliding right back into it.

\-----

He laughed. Threw his head back and laughed. Full bellied, from the throat, with all the emotion of his younger self. Maybe there were tears involved. Bare hands traced the jagged edges of the wraith's face. Finger tips played over the sharp points of those fangs--watched the way the inky black skin gave way under the barest touch. Smoke dissipated and reformed at a whim. The control--or illusion therefore--was astounding. Despite the cliche, the heat of the moment was interrupted as Jack took in that his words muttered those weeks ago weren't so false after all.    
  
" _ Quién sabía que la muerte era tan hermoso? _ " Perhaps he did talk too much. He liked the sound of his own voice. He was a man of many vices. The top of that list was a king with a crown of smoke and regret and warm summer nights alone in bed and missions were a single bullet was all it took to end it all. A blink and miss it moment in time. The words weren't mocking now. They held a reverent tone, his touch echoed the sentiment, and Jack knew he was taking too long. He meant to. Draw this out, create a memory to last long after this was done--whatever this was.

The black turtleneck wasn't important. Still he grunted as the claws triggered a hiss of pain from between his teeth. "You're buying me a new one." Jack snapped, pressed down with his hips, a silent warning for the wraith not try anything underhanded. He was mildly surprised to find that Gabriel's anatomy hadn't much changed. A pleasant surprise.   
  
The brief thought of an awkward conversation concerning how things worked wouldn't need to be bothered with now. He leaned in, hot breath to the top of Gabriel's ear, and leered, "I wasn't the one who squealed like a pig. I would know. Farm boy, remember?" Nevertheless his hands reached down, grappled with the shirt covering Gabriel's torso and yanked at the collar, popped the seams, exposed what lay underneath.

\-----

Gabriel felt himself lean into the press of Jack's hips. He gave Jack a small glare from the comment but it slipped away at the feeling of their still clothed bodies rubbing together, a small groan escaped. He was drunk on it, his head was swimming with how close they were. Hips pressing together and fire sparking in his veins, he was tempted to fight back until Jack spoke again.    
  
For once, he was speechless. No clear comeback or quip just a deep aching need for Jack to touch him. Those calloused, beaten hands always felt best when they were digging into Gabriel's skin, in his back when the tables were turned or running against Gabriel's thighs. It edged on pain that they always chased, the pleasure they could only find in pinning the other long enough to stop fighting.   
  
"I wasn't the one who cried the first time," he chuckled lowly as he tilted his head and grazed the sharp edge of teeth along Jack's shoulder. Gabriel gave a rumbling chuckle at the hands ripping his clothes as the remnants of it slithered away, along with the rest of the wraith's clothes. There were perks to being a nightmarish creature who controlled shadows and small machines. Easy stripping was one of them.(edited)

Gabriel was all dark skin and hard edges; peppering of dark, smooth black hair all in the right places and scars that covered him like a web. A hard one hugged his chest lower, where he had been impaled and locked to the ground after the explosion. There were more scattered all over; marring his dark skin with pale almost sickly looking  color that even the nanites couldn't heal away.    
  
Marks from the surgeries, scars that had clawed all over him like a swarm. He had been spilt open in so many places and it was only a faded echo to the pain he experienced so soon after losing everything. Gabriel slid dark thick thighs around Jack's waist letting them close around the man's hips and rest there. Gabriel grinned deviously as he slid them along Jack's sides.    
  
He took his hands off Jack to fold them behind his head as he raised one cocky brow arching his back confidently showing the body he still had, even with all its flaws. " _ Ver algo que te guste _ , Jackie?" If Gabriel could have slipped a flower between his razor sharp teeth he would. He was never one to shy about the slope of his chest, or the mouth-watering thick shape of thighs he'd carved through a lifetime of military.

\-----

He could count on one hand the number of times Gabriel was at a loss for words. Once during an interrogation when Jack had lost it trying to question a Talon operative--the man was more black and blue by the end. Jack had lost his temper. He remembered the way Gabriel had danced around him for an hour after. It had been almost adorable. The operative had just killed an entire family in a hostage situation and one of the kids looked an awful lot like Fareeha. Jack knew it was one of the few times his temper had gotten the better of him. Afterwards he could still feel and taste the angry fuck after--Gabriel allowing him to spend energy with a full night of just them. This wasn't far from that. The image of the woman the wraith had torn apart danced before the soldier's eye. His fist clenched, the moment broken when Gabriel's clothing misted away.

Revealed beneath the tight shirt and pants was what he remembered. It interrupted the seething red that leaked into his vision. The display before the soldier now holding his rapt attention. Jack gulped. It was audible. There was no stopping it. Seated back, the distinct pressure of Gabriel's remarkable girth pressed into his thigh, Jack mapped out the scars--old and new--with hungry, attentive eyes. The largest scar he knew too well. The image of the support beam impaled through the darkened skin of his lover ... Jack's hand hovered over the off color tissue like touching it would be sacrilege. A beat passed then his finger tips touched the edge, traced along the smokey flesh, overlaid the memory with the fiery destruction he remembered. A choked sound escaped his throat. Jack looked away.

"What kind of deal did you make with death to come back?" Jack whispered, his palm pressed against the middle of the scar, head turned down, away, looking at the ground. Anywhere but at Gabriel. The memory of the explosion and the resulting agony was more than physical. He was reliving it. Then and there. Jack shifted off the wraith's hips, ignored Gabriel's taunting, coy actions, and slipped onto the floor. His back turned to the other man, an easy target if Gabriel wanted it, Jack didn't care. His head fell into his hands, fingers dug into his bone white hair, threatening to tear it free. So deep into the memory the surroundings faded away. The smell of smoke encompassed his psyche. He felt the flames licking at his arms, his legs, his body, threatening to drown him. A muted groaned escaped his lips, Jack's body hunching forward, arms now wrapped tight around his body, curled into a ball--trying to escape a memory that he never could.

\-----

Gabriel felt the sudden shift more than he saw it, Jack's eyes looked so viciously pained and far away.Jack was watching him die all over again, seeing his prone impaled body. Everything was cold suddenly when Jack pulled away and he looked down himself at his own scar. The one that unsettled Jack. He ran a hand over it, the scar was large and there was on his back to match, smaller but just as harrowing. Sometimes, he had dreams where was impaled again, hanging right between life and dead, praying for the former. The sensation of his lower body threatening to separate from his upper half, it was a slow maniacal tear that should have killed him. Should have left him dead, but it didn't.    
  
The pained filled whispered question made him wince as he sat up when Jack pulled away. The cold concerned him little compared to the slight tremble against Jack's shoulders. Gabriel acted carefully as he watched Jack trying to crawl into himself. His chest clenched, he knew this suffering, the horror of being trapped in your own head. Reliving the past until it spit you out into a small, fragmented piece of what you used to be. He held his breath as he shifted behind jack and wrapped his arms around the tight ball he was.    
  
"It wasn't my choice to make, Jackie." The truth of it always hurt the most, the idea that he had been out of his hands. Made for him. Gabriel tucked his forehead against the strong back, hands gently pressed against his sides. He pressed his lips against Jack's shoulder and he closed his eyes. Suffering. Jack was still suffering and there was nothing else Gabriel could do about it. His hands pressed more firmly to the quivering sides, sometimes something real could help ground the demons ripping someone up from the inside. "It's okay, Jack. It's okay." The words were quiet, a small chant he repeated over and over into the strong back. An anchor. He needed an anchor and Gabriel was a poor one, but at least it was something.

His shadows reacted and soon, the thick feeling of it buffered Jack. A thick, dark cocoon that would swallow him whole if that's what he wanted. It was warm, despite the digging chill of the wraith when he pressed against Jack. Gabriel kept his eyes closed, whispering nothing and everything as shadows moved around them. His hands stayed firm, trying to hold Jack together in the only way he could. It was like a shell, a dark fluttering shell that was only them and the points of where they were pressed together. Gabriel wanted to seal them away, into a pocket of time where they could scream and cry. Where he could pet over the sores and wounds, they couldn't heal. Not now anyway. Pain and gashes like those were fresh, always reopening themselves to bleed freely.    
  
His chants bled into a soft, gentle repeat of Jack's name. It was a plea, a desperate attempt to reach out into the hell flaying the man alive. A mantra to remind the man he wasn't dead, they weren't dead. Something he was still fighting with himself but he spent so long fighting demons, it only felt natural. The smoke hovered around them, thick clouds of it still inside Jack vibrated and hummed against him. The slightest squeeze of his lungs as they moved together, a ripple sweeping through him.

\----

Smoke. Too much smoke. All around. In his eyes. In his lungs. Ash in his hair. Flames around his body. There was pain. So so much pain. His nails scratched at his arms, tried to rip off the smoldering clothing that wasn't there. Droplets of blood appeared under the harsh treatment. His skin turned a mottled colors. Bruises from the fight before the explosion. Words slung in anger at one another--he had meant everything he said. He couldn't take it back. The fire aorund them was the result. Some higher power's vengeful way of showing their ire at how Jack mishandled the power he'd been given.   
  
Gabriel's form shifted in his vision. Between the current and the old, didn't matter. Jack wasn't able to save him then. Hadn't even tried. That same mantra leaked into his consciousness.  _ You want to save him. You did nothing to save him. _ Jack's fingers dug further into the flesh of his arms, nails biting the skin, drawing more crimson to the surface. His knees ached from the pressure of his hunched form. His breath came in gasps, smoke curled in his chest, around his throat, and choked off his air. "I couldn't save him." Jack coughed, knees spread further until his forehead hit the filthy ground. The pressure on his body only deepened the sensation. The ceiling that pinned Jack down, prevented him from moving, unable to reach Gabriel as the Blackwatch Commander lay dying.

"I didn't try." He shrugged, suddenly flailed, tried to push off the weight against his body. The beams and ceiling needed to go. He fought the debris. Jack twisted, turned his chest, eyes unseeing, kicking out to try and dislodge the cement and ceiling. He cried, unintelligible, wordless to try and escape the pressure. "I didn't fucking try." His palm lashed out, pushed against the weight, vainly attempted to wriggle away. Fresh tear streaks cut through the caked dirt of his cheeks. The smoke wrapped around his lungs, constricted, and he screamed.   
  
Gabriel was dying and he couldn't get to him. Jack felt his arm break again. Heard the bones snap. The agony of muscles being sliced by bones splintered, cutting into tendons and ligaments. His leg lashed out, connected with something solid, and it gave. Jack scrambled to get away, turned onto his back, heavy combat boots aiming to free himself. His chest heaved. He couldn't get enough oxygen. His back hit something solid, stopped, his head jarred, and the smoke now warm. Not on fire. That wasn't right. His mind rattled off the detail and he listened. "Gabriel ..." Jack shoked out, legs flat out in front of him, arms limp at his side, his body exhausted from the vivid memory. "I failed you. This-" His hand lifted, touched the scar, lined the tissues, and edges. "-I did this. This is my fault. I did this." Summer sky blue eyes fell down, looked anywhere but at the wraith. He couldn't face him. The truth staring him down and not openly accusing. He was a weak willed fool. Only now admitting to it.

\-----

Gabriel could only watch his old lover struggle in his own personal hell. He gave small grunts of pain at the flailing, the odd hit knocking him good and a small sliver of appreciation for not being human came back. The man was strong, moreso with age, he could break a regular man into pieces with just an aimed hit.   
  
Jack was drowning, being buried in his own doubts and horrors. It was agony to watch the demons claw through him as if they were still stuck in that moment of time. The fire had eaten them, destroyed them while they were destroying themselves. Gabriel could still remember the words Jack flung at him, the hate seeping from every word and the bite in those beautiful blue eyes. He had been speechless then, mystified at how venomous every word that slipped from Jack's lips were real. By the time he reacted and opened his own mouth, the world turned into light. Unforgiving, brutal light that consumed everything around them. Destroyed. Broken. Just like them.    
  
He hurt him to hear Jack sob and just give in. There was the truth right there. The reason Jack couldn't come to terms with what was happening. Guilt. Crushing, vicious guilt that told him he could have done more. Gabriel had cried blood when he opened his eyes impaled on the bones of something he had once believed in. Where was Jack? Jack, his shining star. Jack, his anchor. Jack.  _ Jack _ . He would have screamed his name if blood hadn't filled his mouth and his body had not been ripped in two.

No. Gabriel shut his eyes against it. They both couldn't be trapped in the hellish clutch of those days. Strong. He had to be strong, strong enough to keep them from falling back into that cycle. Crushed and speared by the remnants of their dreams whose sharp edges left them for dead. He closed his eyes against Jack's touch and listened to the soft spoken words. Gabriel sighed as he reached out to Jack and held his face in his hands. "Jack." Gabriel had so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to tell the other man but all he could do was utter his name in a sob.    
  
He pulled Jack in and pressed his lips to the lined forehead of a man who spent a lifetime beating himself.  _ It was okay _ . Gabriel wanted to utter those words, wanted to whisper anything Jack needed into his ear but all he could manage was to kiss those tear stained cheeks. Jack tasted bitter, full of the rot of a man who was still buried under rubble. Screaming. Screaming as the world closed in and crushed him slowly. Gabriel wanted to swallowed him whole, his moon was broken and jagged edges ripped the night into bloody ribbons. Always fighting, always trying to do right. Gabriel envied Jack's shine but not the empathy that bled him dry.    
  
"I couldn't save you either," Gabriel tried to not to shake, tried not to notice the way his hands trembled and dissipated around the edges as his eyes burned. His tears were black just like his blood and somehow thicker. "We were supposed to be the best, Jackie. What a crock of shit, huh?" He tried to smile through the film eating his vision, "Just a bunch of kids playing hero." Gabriel hated that scar that marred Jack's face. Back then, he didn't want to protect the world. He wanted to protect Jack.    
  
" _ No des la mirada lejos de mí, sol. No soporto estar fuera de tu luz. _ " He slipped into his native tongue without meaning to, words were slippery. It was getting hard to hold onto them to control the old aches.

\-----

" _ Mí sol. _ " Jack's harsh whisper cut through the fog. He knew those words. Even before attempting to learn Gabriel's language. Before making the effort to mend their rift. Those two words had been an achor, something to hold onto, somethjing to keep him grounded during the harsher times in SEP through the crisis through the first days of Overwatch. Like a trap his mind latched onto the phrase. Engulfed the words, held them tight to his consciousness, and he growled almost feral when there was a slight touch to his forehead.   
  
Blue eyes fogged with war and fatigue stared hollow at Gabriel. Seeing but unseen, he fell back into the embrace of the debris behind him. " _ Mí sol. _ " The fire was gone, vanished back in memory. No longer there to hurt him and remind him. The smoke remained yet it didn't hurt. He sank into the feeling, embraced the way the intrusion wrapped fully around his insides. "I'm afraid I'm not very bright anymore. Not much light coming from this dying sun." Jack's forced a tired grin. A feeble attempt to waylay the concern he felt in the way Gabriel clung to him. It was old memories come to haunt him again and again. A horror he could never escape--the reminder that the wraith concealed his other half.   
  
Aching hands grabbed Gabriel's shoulders, pulled the man in, laid a gentle kiss to each cheek. The black liquid that were tears left an acidic taste in his mouth. Jack swallowed it down--a punishment for making Gabriel feel pain. No bullet could do the damage decades of nightmares wrecked in a handful of minutes. The fires were gone but the reality was far harsher. "I did this. I was always the one to cause pain. You cleaned up my mess." Jack murmured the words. An admission coming from a time when his hair was blond and Gabriel's form was solid. Gun calloused hands grappled with the body in front of him, curled closer, buried his head under the strong jaw, eyes slammed shut and shivered.

\-----

"You're just the moon now, Jack. Still shining but not quite as bright." Gabriel gave a half hearted smile to match Jack's tired one. Each one of those kisses hurt, it felt like small knives jabbing into his chest were being twisted. A loving hurt that ached as much as it comforted him. Gabriel didn't fight Jack's words this time; a part of him had always laid blame to the blue eyed man. It was unfair, another injustice of his own nightmares but it was one he could never overcome.    
  
Gabriel wanted to bury them in the ground where they belonged. This suffering, this endless suffering shouldn't have been their reality. They should have died with their dreams. He closed his eyes, fighting the demons licking at the corner of his thoughts. No time for that now. They were alive. Bloodied, raw and ripped to shreds, but they were alive. Even if it was just barely.    
  
Jack was warm. Real. Gabriel held onto him as if he would turn to ashes. " _ Mi sol, mi luna. _ " He said it fondly, the image was easy to conjure. Jack had once been as bright as the sun and now, he was as pale as moonlight. Imperfect and wavering but shining regardless. The wraith softly blanketed them with gentle shadows that felt almost akin to a blanket, wrapping a cool warmth around them. "We're the walking wounded, old man. I'm not sure if the past can't let go of us or if we can't." He sighed thinking and rubbing along Jack's back, it felt natural to touch each dip along his spine. Relearning what it was like to hold him without the terror of thinking he would fade. Jack was warm. Impossibly warm, soft and firm, but broken. Gabriel imagined those edges caught on the tips of fingers would bleed him and for once, he didn't think he could truly mind.

\-----

"Just?" He scoffed, turned away, jerked his head out of the hands holding him in place. Broken nails gripped wounded biceps and smeared the crimson across dusty skin. The shadow around him was warm, comforting, complete. It felt amazing. A hole that he didn't know was vacated was filled with just that simple thing. The body he held before was gone. Something whole no longer remained. Gabriel drifted away into the darkness and, suddenly, Jack felt his chest tighten.   
  
He needed the solidity, the grounding, the anchor, and it was faded now. Desperate hands reached out, grabbed what they could hold onto, pulled it against his chest. Jack hurtled himself around the mass that remained. The sound that tore from the old soldier's throat was half whimper, half moan. There was no passion in the noise but only a need to be reminded of his humanity. Jack's fingers dug into the flesh it could find. "Come back. Stop with the theatrics and the smoke and mirrors Gabriel. Give me the whole man or none." He ignored the words. The sorrow in them flowing from the wraith didn't matter. What did was the ability for Jack to hold something.

It was an almost feral snarl, fueled by a potent concoction of anger, desperation, anxiety, and passion that Jack pressed until he found the semblance of lips. He mashed against them, felt the outline of fangs, and settled into the embrace. Calloused hands grappled with bare flesh. The thought that during all this Gabriel was naked filtered into his mind. Jack fell back, head hanging down, a wrecked chuckle out of his throat. The idea, all this emotional baggage, and Gabriel was sitting here in a crumpling building naked as the day he was born. The ridiculous image had Jack lose it.   
  
"You're naked. I'm the one breaking down, needing help, and you're naked!" Jack allowed his body to fall forward, catch on the solid shoulder that now sat there. His hands wrapped around the broad expanse while his knees bracketed on either side of the wraith. The whole situation was something no one would believe. He wasn't sure if he did. He laid a handful of tentative touches to the underside Gabriel's jaw, nipped once, then settled to nuzzle into the mottled flesh.

\-----

Gabriel gave a huff as Jack attacked his mouth again, there was a thread of irritation of his words sliding off the other man but it faded in the neediness of Jack's touches. He hummed into it, the way his lips and tongue ghosted across Gabriel's deadly razor teeth only made his stomach catch fire. He wanted to be angry but Jack's mouth stole the fury right out of him, he was breathing it in just like he had his smoke. Stealing away his emotions for himself and greedily clinging onto them.    
  
As if begrudgingly obeying Jack, Gabriel's body became a bit more solid so he would have something to sink those hungry hands into. Some parts of him still gave almost sickeningly so but it was more of him that he'd had before. He was getting tired of Jack breaking off those mind numbing kisses to be snarky. Gabriel huffed irritably, he supposed some things would never change.    
  
Gabriel could hear the strain, the pure madness hinging in Jack's voice and he had nothing to say in the face of it. He was clinging to Gabriel like a life line, the other man's body was pressing against him seeking more contact. As if the touch of their bodies would push all the horrors out of Jack's mind. If that was what Jack needed now, Gabriel was happy to oblige. "Jackie," he groaned at the careful touches along his face and the sharp slid of teeth against his skin. He wasn't sure if he was being teased or tortured with the fevered madness of everything rushing to the surface for them.

Hands slid along Jack's sides, hooking into the pale skin that heaved with every breath. Jack was so much more than what Gabriel remembered; the soft expanse of scars spread so much further along the warm skin. Dark hands started at the gentle slope of hips and pushed up down sliding over his clothed hips as cool hands smoothed over the front of Jack's thighs. He squeezed the firm muscle as he fingers sank in even through the thick material still hugging them. Gabriel could touch Jack for hours and never be satisfied.

\-----

With a vehement shake of his head, Jack held to the solid form presented to him. The hysterical break he suffered snuffed out like a candle. White hair plastered to his head from sweat and the trip to the past. "Don't call me that." He bit out. There was real venom in the statement. It wasn't aimed at the one person keeping him anchored. It was a self inflicted gunshot wound no gauze could mend. There still wasn't the full body he craved but what Gabriel was willing to give Jack took like a maniac. A drowned man suddenly alive in the ocean of his own inconsistencies and insecurities. Haunted by the past like the heaviest shackles, unable to escape save for into the darkness presented by his greatest enemy.   
  
The acid from the tears stung the back of his throat. He swallowed them down, reveled in the taste, embraced the presence that Gabriel offered. "You're trying. God you're trying but I can't change the past. You have every right to kill me. End me. Rid the world of the one person who took everything from you and yet you're here." He was rambling. The sudden shifts of mood and state of mind destroyed the old soldier from the inside out. His body shook, next to give out under the strain. An overload was a kind way to describe the circumstances. Truly it was a nuclear explosion and Jack was caught in the middle.

"Show me what you've become. What I created. Show me the monster so I know what burden I must bear." His hands clenched into the firm biceps Gabriel presented. His legs shifted, suddenly sloped into the wraith's lap, straddled Gabriel's hips, pressed down in the most intimate of manners. What he asked was the plea of a desperate man asking for desperate measures to put an end to the turmoil within. Cliche heaped onto cliche. That was Jack's life had become. He knew it, acknowledged it but never faced it. Now he craved that affirmation. Gabriel could give it. He would beg if need be. His eyes stared down into too many crimson ones, watched them mesmerized, kissed each one with silent pleadings.

\-----

Gabriel heard Jack's plea, knew what he wanted, but he was terrified to do it himself. Showing Jack what really lurked under the mask when he became Reaper was dangerous. He struggled with the thoughts of how inhumane he really was in the privacy of his own rooms when he didn't look like Gabriel anymore. He was just. Nothing. Not human. The thought put fear in him and he didn't know if was ready. Didn't know if he could do what Jack wanted this time.   
  
Jack wanted him to give, to show so much and Gabriel felt himself creaking under the pressure of it. It was a struggle holding his body into something he remembered from what he really was when he wasn't thinking of how he should look. The realities were so starkly different Gabriel couldn't admit it. Couldn't delve into that small realization he had changed so drastically become a monster because of a mistake, a plea to save him that ended up cursing him instead.   
  
He couldn't look at Jack when it happened. His flesh darkened as if he had been burned, his ribs protruded out like grotesque art and his face melted into a line of sharp teeth. There were eyes, more eyes then that could be counted that lined the left side of his face. The edges of his form were shifting, bleeding between solid and smoke. There were still ridges of human features but they were the only remnants of his humanity. Gaping holes that bled steaming black opened and closed all over his body, Jack sank in a bit more into Gabriel's semi solid form. His hands became sharp claws, and he grew larger. Bigger than what he had been as a man. He was grotesque. A nightmare. The familiar presence of his cock disappeared, retreating and darkening into his body, hidden in a slit. His skin had a rough, almost painful to touch that blended into something smooth. Gabriel's chest made a weird stuttering sound as if his heart couldn't quite beat like it was supposed to.

Gabriel looked at the wall, he was a monster. He wasn't human anymore, not with the nanites making him into something that would a terror on the battlefield. Everything was apart of him; his weapons, his clothes. It was all just another extension of his body horror. Even as he opened his jagged line of a mouth, more of that dark smoke slipped out and he wanted. He was waiting for Jack to see him and scream, anyone else would. Gabriel knew he would if he saw anything like himself, past lover or friend regardless.

\-----

There was the moment of hesitation. Perhaps didn't understand the full extent to what he asked but the idea as there. In the slight hunch of Gabriel's form. In the way those sickly hands reached out yet only offered the barest of touches. In the way the smoke curled around him yet stayed just shy of a complete cocoon. Therefore when the change happened, his request granted, Jack slipped back to observe.   
  
Too many teeth. A multitude of eyes. A choked sob at the way the ribs cracked and broke and the unvoiced agony one simple ask created. Deposited on the floor, surrounded by the entirety of what he had destined Gabriel for, Jack reached up, one hand on either side of the wraith's face. Forced Gabriel too look at him. There was no hiding. Bringing the fanged maw, cracked facade, and blinking eyes down, he breathed in the smoke. "This is what you are." The words were whispered in near reverence, awed by what was presented before him, unable to take it all in in that single moment.   
  
"Gabriel." Jack closed his eyes, felt the shadows shift around him, brush cold against his skin, caress down his back, across his thighs--little intimate touches as though the other man was uncertain how to interpret the old soldier's lack of a reaction. " _ Mi oscuridad. _ I did this to you. Can you forgive me?" There were no tears left to be shed. They had all been given when Zurich fell and he was forced to escape the flames while his lover writhed in the fire, pinned down, unable to flee. Jack felt the coward and trembled like one.

\-----

Gabriel winced before he could stop himself at the touch against his face, he resisted initially not wanting Jack to look at him. He knew Jack was already seeing him but it wasn't real until their eyes met, even though Gabriel had many many eyes to meet. He shrilled internally at the statement Jack made, it was spoken like praise instead of a curse and he didn't know how to process the feeling it stirred. Jack had been so emotional during there time here.    
  
As if the man had lost all senses and was simply unable to contain himself. Seeing him calm, almost subdued was terrifying in the larger scheme of things. Part of him did hate Jack, hated him fiercely, for leaving him in the ruins of their careers. The only mercy had been he had  only felt the flames for a few moments licking at his skin, burning him alive before he was pulled out of the rubble.    
  
The wraith fell silent. A part of him clung to that hate desperately, it was what kept his anger fresh. It let him fall into his Reaper self easier and leave bodies in his wake. There were long nights that was all he dreamt of, all his body could experience, was the moment the fire finally meant the leather of boot. Melting. Melting into his skin straight to the bone. Sometimes it was hard to remember it was their fault, it wasn't their fault, and life just threw the largest bag of shit at their feet. He didn't know.    
  
He felt the sigh slipping through him and a ripple of smoke flow out of him. This is what he was now. Hating Jack wouldn't change that. He wanted it to but it wouldn't. "I can try, Jackie. I can try." It wasn't a yes or a no and that perfectly spoke his mind on it. Gabriel hoped maybe with time it could happen but for now all he could do was tell Jack he could try. He sat up on his hands as he looked at Jack.

"This isn't how I expected our little talk to go," His voice was more distorted but still familiar, "but it's better than what I hoped." Those eyes looked at Jack curiously as he reached forward and pulled the hopelessly overwhelmed man into a hug, nuzzling his head into the man's shoulder. Jack needed a hug and Gabriel found it comical he was the one playing keeper to Jack's demons.

\-----

It wasn't ideal. It would do though. He couldn't ask for more. Beggars ... Jack felt the chill of Gabriel's monstrous breath down his spine. Exposed for all he was worth the old solider knew that it would take one flick of the wrist and Gabriel could end him. Take back all that they had worked through in the last hours. He forced out a harsh laugh. The crumbled building around them looked as hollow and worth thin as Jack felt. His body was only held up by Gabriel's presence. His mind was a broken mess, barely put back together in the aftermath.   
  
"I have a room. Shitty motel but its by the beach." He mumbled into the dark mass that his former lover presented. Asking Gabriel to revert was too much. It took enough to release the true nature of his transformation, Jack had asked enough. Requiring more felt like a cruel punishment. Still he pried himself free of the embrace, shook out weak arms, forced his body to stand, and move to the remains of a doorway. One palm pressed into the rotted out frame. The wood crumbled under the pressure. Jack snorted. A beautiful metaphor for his soul.

"Tell me where we are. I intend to shower and sleep in a bed." Jack glanced over at the darkness that Gabriel presented. Aged fingers dug into the plaster, picked away pieces, and watched them fall to the ground. He was surprised to see the sun rising through the buildings. The thought of spending an entire night lost in the depths of his own mind, on a subconscious level, frightened him. Jack refused to let it show. Perhaps a stiffness of the shoulders was telling but he was bone weary, unable to be bothered anymore. The horizon was aglow with hasty oranges and yellows. The promise of a gorgeous day. He wanted to sleep.   
  
"Come with me?" Jack whispered. His head hung down, looked at the ground. His jacket was back in the building, lying discarded. His shirt ripped somewhere else. Gloves throw across the floor in their first mad dash to get at skin and their vulnerabilities.

\-----

Gabriel felt exhausted. A deep bone gripping exhaustion that made him want to dissolve into a pool of nothing and just cease to exist for a few hours. When Jack slid out of his arms, he stood up, feeling even tired for doing it as he stretched a bit. He rolled his head along his shoulders as he heard Jack ask him. Gabriel folded his arms as he tilted his head back.    
  
"We're a little outside the town, near the empty side of warehouse district but not close enough to the beach to smell it." The voice was a bit disjointed as he looked around, Gabriel had transported them to this place on a whim. He had seen when he had been wandering around the town before he got the odd feed about a Talon warehouse being broken into it. He reformed some semblance of clothes; a baggy hoody and some loose pants, his body and features were still monstrous. Just not naked.    
  
"Wanna collect what's left of your clothes first, old man? And your weapons. You did work so hard to get them, would be a shame to leave it." Gabriel hummed as smoke seeped from his jagged mouth, "I can shadowstep us, I've been to that motel. Didn't check in," he pointed to himself emphasizing  _ smoke monster remember? _ It was also a non direct way of him agreeing to go with Jack, he could go for a quick break and some sleep. He gave a grotesque version of a wink as he chuckled before picking up the gloves that were nearby.

\-----

Clothes. Right. Those were important.With mechanical movements he grabbed the jacket, flung it over a shoulder, and snatched the gloves from Gabriel's hands. He smirked, tapped the tips of the fabric against what stood for the wraith's nose. A movement from a time long past. A tease and a mockery in the same motion. Something they would do behind closed doors when the team was asleep or they had a day off. Or both. Or neither. Hidden away in the storage closet of all places, sneaking touches like teenagers on prom night.   
  
"I'm good. Don't make it a habit to carry around more than I can keep track of." Jack shrugged a shoulder, slipped into the jacket, shoved the gloves into a pocket. The rifle was quickly slung across his back. The visor was the last to go. Even cracked across the right side it functioned well enough. He could see better at any rate.   
  
The shift--he would never get used to it. The breath was sucked from his lungs, exchanged for smoke. Heart nearly pulled from his chest. Body left behind and taking a second to catch up. Jack wobbled, nearly fell, and only caught himself with the grace of a new born deerling. All legs and no coordination. The older soldier coughed, saw the disgusting bed, and flopped down on it thankfully. The rifle was the only item placed with an reverence against the wall. The visor found a new home on the nightstand. The gloves joined it. The jacket was tossed to the floor, combat boots kicked off with a huff. Jack, now partially clothed, curled up under the blankets without another word save a muted grunt and pat to the bed. A silent invitation if the wraith was willing to take it.

\-----

Gabriel chuckled as he slid in behind Jack and finally embraced the need to dissipate into a shuddering cloud. It was strange not having a physical body but he enclosed around Jack, sticking densely to his skin like a thick film that squirmed consciously. He felt akin to a heavy blanket surrounding Jack.    
  
"It's easier to be a puddle." The voice rippled through the dark, solid mass hugging to Jack's body. "Shut up, Jack. I can practically hear you talking shit already." The puddled seemed to make a long suffering sigh by the way it vibrated but it was underhanded by the slightest chuckle that could be heard after the words.    
  
"I'll be gone by the time you wake up, Jackie, but it was good having this little chat. Try not to aim for my face out on the battlefield, I like to think I'm still a pretty mexicano." He said with a smile in his voice as the thick layer slithered to cover both the front and back of Jack. An obscene blanket that flexed as if it was breathing and was lightly petting the older man whenever it touched.

\-----

Feeling the way Gabriel let go, transformed, encompassed his body in a kind of living blanket was odd at first. It felt right though. Jack stretched, wriggled, and popped his legs until his knees protested the movement. Even through the heavy pants he felt the slight movement from the the wraith's new form. There was breath there. Barely there but noticable. He paid attention, listened, subconsciously aligned his own lungs to the tempo Gabriel set.   
  
"Always were into the kinky shit." He grunted, grabbed one pillow and shoved it against his chest. Another tucke ditself under his head. Laying on his side, facing the door--old habits died hard--with a living blanket Jack smirked. Odd change of events. Never would have thought this was how his night or day or whatever this was would turn out. "Keep the tentacles where I can see them and we'll be golden." He none the less chortled out the statement. He wasn't going to humor Gabriel on this. Small victories and all that.

He grunted. At the idea of being left alone come waking up Jack felt his breath hitch. He hated it. Loathed it actually. Being dependant on Gabriel again was a terrible sign. Their former relationship was none existant. What tattered remains they had dug up these past few hours weren't enough to base any strong companionship on. There was too much distrust. Too much anger and boiling vengance to get around in a handful of days. "Still thinking highly of yourself. The eyes are a nice touch. The fangs not so much. At least you floss." Jack snorted, turned over his shoulder as if to look at Gabriel before remembering that the man was the blanket now nearly suffocating him. "Making your mother proud."   
  
There was a sense of safety in the embrace. The ability to feel Gabriel's sparse breaths was both unusual and soothing. Like a soft song or the quiet white noise of a sleep aid, the way the wraith used his form to caress and coddle him Jack didn't fight. Neither did his body. With a slight groan, wanting to sleep, Jack glared down at the suddenly attentive part of his anatomy. Grunting, his hand wriggled free, reached down, adjusting as best as could be done with the tight leather pants, and rolled over to lay on his stomach. Jack determined to ignore the rising problem. "You're doing that on purpose you bastard." The slow, tender movements and squeezes from the wraith around his body were definitely intentional. Jack growled a warning.

\-----

"Oh please, are you giving me spoopy shadow man advice? I've been doing this longer than you, boy scout." The ribbing was good natured and he gave another one of those full body rolling sensations that mirrored the man doing something similar with his eyes. "If she's not rolling over in her grave, I'll do it for her when I eventually go down. Fuck, i think I've got a whole marathon of spinning to do in my own pine box when this shit is over." Every word vibrated against Jack's skin like a low sensation that hummed over it.    
  
"I'm the prettiest motherfucker around these parts, boy scout. You're a close second but my cuddle skills beat yours." He said as he pointedly rose a small tendril to boop Jack's nose. It swerved in Jack's vision as it swirled, "Lookie here, keeping my tentacles in sight like a good boy." The underlying chuckle was there even if he wasn't letting it slip. Even with Jack's warning growl the vibrations and squeeze grip settling around Jack's groin intensified.    
  
"Oh? You mean this?" The thick feeling of something over Jack's clothes seeped through them, the gentle cool touch pressing against his naked skin and curled around the interested twitch of his cock. More of the cool smooth texture grazed along a long strip between Jack's thighs while sliding over them. "Or did you mean this?" The vibration grew stronger as the seeping shadows circled Jack's cock and lazily stroked along it, "After all these intense emotions today the least you can do is have some fun, Jackie. Live every day like your last old man." The voice hummed and seemed to graze along his ear, nanites buzzed in the air and began to pinprick along the skin it touched but wasn't washed over like the main thick puddle of it.

\-----

Technically he was the boogie man before Gabriel. A few days give or take--Jack was unsure how long the process that turned the man from Blackwatch Commander to walking Halloween ghost had taken. Didn't want to consider the possibilities or pain associated with the change. But that day among the flames Jack became the vigilante while Gabriel writhed pined through with a support beam. Left for the fire and flame to engulf and conceal the evidence. He squeezed his eyes tight, banished the image. His mind would be hell if he fell down that rabbit hole again in one day. He nearly did.   
  
For once Gabriel's pension for oneupmanship kept him sane. Jack breathed a sigh of relief before his body tensed. The full body roll of the wraith brought out a softened huff. The tendril of smoke dancing before his eyes earned a glare. "For once-" That relief was cut off, short lived, Jack's words morphed into a barely contained moan. Through the clothing was one thing.   
  
When the shadows melded through the fabric and caressed skin the old soldier's hands bunched into the dingy sheets. A harsh, stuttered buck of his hips followed, chased after the taunts Gabriel so freely gave. "That's a load of shit-" The vibrations intensified. His toes dug into the bedding, changed the angle, chased the friction. He was old. Already on edge and just a few touches. He was starved but how badly hadn't been manifest until Gabriel began this game. "Fuck. Pushing an old man like this. You truly are evil ... " The words stuttered off into a groan. Jack glared at the wall unable to catch the red eyes into an intense staring contest.

"Fighting dirty. And you're going to leave in the morning," the old soldier growled. His chest heaved as the way the shadow heated, teased, and circled his eager flesh brought him ashamedly flush and over the edge. It wasn't a scream or cry but a scrunched face and curled body as his hips ground into the bedding following the collapse. "Fuck them and leave them. I'd call you a lady killer but I doubt you'd know what to do with a lady." Jack snapped. There was no real venom in the words. He was too tired and wrung out to care.

\-----

Gabriel gave a soft rumbling noise and just made a continuous 'mhm' noise as Jack was cursing him all through his enjoyment of the sensations and he spread over Jack's body again like a warm, rippling blanket now. "You're complaining but you do realize you just came on me and didn't even offer to clean it up. What a gentleman." He said though Jack's release was already gone, having been broken up and absorbed into the smoothly textured blanket.    
  
"Have you even seen a pair of tits, golden boy? The only ass you've gotten those mittens on was mine and you could barely handle that." Gabriel fed back his own snark and centered the most of his weight along Jack's front, nuzzling and spreading against the man's chest like a small animal. "I'll hang around your old bony ass until they call me back if you want, Jackie. Don't look at me in the morning, I have terrible bedhead." The offer and sliding snark were there as he swelled up against the man's chest and the tendril booped the old man's nose again. "Now stop worrying and get some sleep." Gabriel spread as he wrapped Jack's body in the warmth of his gently pressured embrace like a full hug.   
  
In the following silence, Gabriel started murmuring a soft foreign tune that lulled them into better nights. Before everything fell apart, Gabriel had a habit of murmuring small songs he'd learn as a child and whispering to Jack while they laid together. They were usually just idle lullabies drawn out to be longer and easier on the ears. It was the same old tunes but now they were humming against Jack's skin with a small ripple which each word.

\-----

"You deserved it." Jack snorted. The combination of bone weariness and a worn mental state lulled him into sleep. His comebacks were flagging and suffering for it. "You didn't really give me a choice to move. Not sure if I can even move with you clinging me like a koala." Jack knew the words were half hearted at best. He really wasn't trying anymore. There was no point. In this battle Gabriel was the victor. If he had to concede then this was the fight to do so.   
  
Jack flipped into his back, hands coming up to stroke the shadows like a lover's back. The weight against his chest mimicked a cheek resting there--ancient memories threatened to surface yet again but he let them flow. They were pleasant. Times he revisited in his darkest hours because they were safe to remember. "Gabriel. Thank you." He breathed, drifted to sleep with the sound of the wraith's humming.   
  
Now Jack understood more words than before but the tune still held the same power. His mind gave in. His body followed. His last idle thought conceding Gabriel's ability to actually sleep. The idea of Gabriel's infamous bedhead and grumpy morning mannerisms put a soft, gentle smile across his haggard face.   
  
By the time he awoke Jack found it to be midday. Made sense considering they fell into bed near dawn. His head hurt, pounded really. The old soldier stifled the yawn, stilled his body to keep from alerting Gabriel to his new state. It wouldn't last long but for the moment Jack wanted to enjoy the feeling of something close to better times. Moments when all that stood between them was who would get the bathroom first or if salt was a spice. Simple things that were small at the time but what he missed the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!
> 
> Note:  
> \- _"Quién sabía que la muerte era tan hermoso?"_ === "Who knew that death was so beautiful?"  
>  \- _"Ver algo que te guste,"_ === "See something you like..."  
>  \- _"No des la mirada lejos de mí, sol. No soporto estar fuera de tu luz."_ === "Don't look away from me, sunshine. I can't stand being out of your light."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't bring up Taco Bell around Gabriel Reyes if you are fond of how your head is attached to your shoulders.

At some point during the night, whether from his subconscious mind or perhaps he had woken up and simply wanted to be more solid, there was a large physical Gabriel sprawled over Jack. It was almost comical at the way limbs and body had managed to get as tangled as they were now. There were still dark plumes slipped from the hole in the side of his cheek but dark curls fell against Jack's chest.   
  
Arms nearly pinned Jack to the solid body and dark skin that was pressed against him, an idle off-beat thud of his heart from the chest pressed against Jack's lower was there as well. It was almost picture perfect even down the subtle, rumbling not-quite snores that were rolling out of Gabriel's chest. There were knees awkwardly bent and touching part of Jack's back. The position Gabriel ended up in would have the man aching for hours in the day after he woke up.   
  
Overall, Gabriel looked ridiculous and from the position, Jack could see more of those fine white hairs dotting the thick dark locks. The signs of aging on his face and body seemed a bit more natural if he could overlook the other things. He shuffled sleepily murmuring nonsense under his breath as those eyes drew in tighter. "Stop fucking with my hair, Morrison, or I'll take your asshole to that smug face where it belongs..." A old memory. Probably an incident where Jack had actually turned the tables on the other man. Gabriel loved to scare the shit out of Jack back then but hated it when he finally got a taste of his own medicine.

\-----

For a moment he froze, listened to the mutterings of the other man. Truly stunned his actions had been so quickly discovered. The minstration of running a gun calloused hand through the curls was natural. Muscle memory guided him even years later. The specks of white endeared themselves to Jack. He wasn't the only one between them actively showing his age. Still it must be lovely to hide the imperfections of time so easily. A little smoke and gone were the markers of age.   
  
Jack settled his other hand against Gabriel's back, thumb rubbing slight circles against the exposed back. Not wholly formed but the human shape he no presented was a decent mock up of the past. Or, perhaps, how Gabriel would look had circumstances not been what they were. He breathed in the stale scent of smoke, felt it curl at the back of his throat, and settle in his gullet. Surely it wasn't healthy but if a small piece of Gabriel remained by the end of this meeting it was worth the lung capacity.   
  
The sounds of feet running by the hallway reminded Jack of the location. A rundown motel in a dusty town he had come to stop a Talon attack. Now he bedded with the enemy. Ironic. Cruel too. "You must tell me your beauty secrets." Jack chuckled, hand returned to run through the curls on the top of Gabriel's head. His fingers caught on the other man's hair, soothed out any perceived pain, then continued their movements. The undercut always did look best on him. At least in Jack's humble opinion. He nestled further into the pillows and sheets and settled his head against the top of Gabriel's. He held on, listened to the irregular staccato of the wraith's heart beat, felt himself drifting off again from that noise alone.

\-----

"No beauty secrets,  _ carino _ , I'm just drop dead gorgeous naturally," The words came out slightly slurred with sleep as Gabriel still didn't open his eyes and tilted his head up with the lazy tugs from Jack's fingers. He hummed soothingly at as Jack petted his hair down and moved tenderly against his head. It made him want to sink back into the willful blindness of sleep. Jack was blissfully warm and being near him ate away at the slight chill of Gabriel's body. A few hours curled up against the white haired man made him warmer if not as warm. The position was easy with his arms wrapped around Jack's back and he squeezed closer before sighing as he dipped back into oblivion.    
  
It was day again before Gabriel blearily opened his eyes and looked around. How long had they been asleep? He tilted his head back as he pulled his arms free of Jack's sleeping form. The mostly whole Gabriel yawned loudly as he stretched and whispered curses at the pain of his body being twisted around Jack like a maniac had slammed pieces into a badly put together puzzle. He wasn't entirely sure how he had managed to get his knees so far up Jack's back but it certainly left a soreness.    
  
He rose up one he sorted whose legs where tangled where as he pushed back the thin curtain to glance outside before the blistering light had him cursing again as he closed it. Gabriel considered laying back down but his stomach rumbled viciously as if it would leap out of his body to get sustenance if he didn't. The wraith grumbled as he struggled to gracefully slip out of bed and once separating from Jack he managed to lean over the older man and crash nosily to the floor in a heap.

More curses. Louder this time. Gabriel got himself up and rubbed his forehead as he stumbled to the bathroom and managed to run into the wall. Louder curses that were nearly screams. He was not having a good morning in the slightest.

\-----

He didn't dream. Just basked in the weight of a lifetime companion against his side. The crash had Jack awake in an instant. His hands scrambled for the pistol under the pillow and found none. Blurry eyes adjusted to the sight before him. With a pounding heart Jack swung his legs off the bed, stifled a chuckle, tried to still his chest and leaned forward to watch Gabriel hobble to the bathroom.   
  
"Dead leg?" Jack yawned, covered it with the palm of his right hand while the left one scratched at the little slip of skin between his shirt and Kevlar pants. A shower sounded wonderful. Gabriel seemed to have called dibs on the bathroom. Jack wouldn't impose such a closeness. Despite the night before he felt any advancement on his part would perhaps be unwanted. Gabriel never was a morning person in life.   
  
The wall however was another issue. Jack sighed, tossed his head in exasperation before crossing the tiny space to guide Gabriel to the bathroom proper. "I'm the one with terrible eye sight. You're like a newborn. Funny actually. Should've let you struggle a little more." Jack snorted but never the less assisted the former lover into the bathroom. He waited for instructions--run a shower or leave Gabriel to his own devices. Either way Jack took the chance to empty his bladder before the organ burst.

\-----

Gabriel responded with inaudible murmurs that were most likely curses as he waved his arms a bit. "I got it, I got it." The mostly solid dark skinned man knelt to fiddle with the hot and cold water dials for the rather sickly looking shower. It was a full minute before any amount of water did dribble out of the shower head.    
  
Gabriel tested it a few times before he stepped under the lukewarm spray. He half heartedly pulled the curtain closed if anything to not pepper the other man with water. He was still half asleep and the shower was essentially meaningless because of his constant reforming but it was nice to still have some meager hobbies. The process was quick, mostly because the water had a strangely rank smell under the festeringly lukewarm patter. Gabriel bypassed the rather dingy looking towel as clothes formed onto him.    
  
He was wearing the same hoodie and loose pants he'd summoned onto himself last night; casual clothes. "Come on, soldier boy, I'm hungry enough to eat a cow. Hurry up," Gabriel sat on the bed and frowned at the painful creaking noise it made. Jack had gotten one shitty motel if the bed sounded as though it was being stabbed slowly like a dying animal.

  
"This place is a dump," He said matter of factly as he leaned on the bed and looked at the ceiling, he silently noted the growing yellow spots and threateningly wet circles that seemed to swell the more Gabriel just looked at them. "Hurry up, Jack, I'm hungry and I'm not sticking around to see what kind of shitty breakfast nook this place has." The wraith said a bit louder as he poked at the sagging pillows.

\-----

It was domestic and painful to watch. He was patient and waited. When Gabriel was done Jack hurriedly striped down, did an impressive dance under the water--getting mostly clean yet avoiding the frightening green spots on the tub bottom. One questionable towel later and he was dry enough to attempt stepping to clothing that wouldn't stick. His bag was near the door. Crossing the naked felt natural. He had nothing to hide anymore. A few new scars. White in places there shouldn't be hair. Old people things.   
  
Digging through the bag he pulled out jeans and a modest nondescript red shirt. He cursed. Packing one pair of underwear hadn't been smart. Not always prepared as he figured. Jack shimmied into the clothing, tugged the shirt over his head and lightly ruffled his hair into a semblance of normalcy. "We can't all conjure our clothes. Some of us have to actually change." Jack barked back. He stuffed the jacket and gloves into the bag. The rifle in its case. His dirty uniform from the previous night also went into the bag. That left the visor. Into the bag. A ball cap pulled from the nightstand drawer and a hidden pistol tucked into a side holster completed the look.   
  
With a grunt of satisfaction he turned to Gabriel. Blue eyes crinkled around the edges with a wee bit of youthful mirth. This game they were playing, the domestic life, was enjoyable. What he needed. He would savor it for all Gabriel was willing to give him. "Lead the way Mr. Grinch." Jack opened the door to the room with a kicking flourish and stepped aside, half bowed and offered Gabriel a wink.

\-----

Gabriel watched Jack do his morning ritual with morbid fascination and snorted as he used the dingy towel, he hoped Jack didn't get rabies or something from the material. He sat up and stood as he focused a bit more packing in more solidity into his form until the wisping plumes seemed less noticeable, a pair of sunglasses appeared over his eyes as he raised a brow.    
  
"Get some nanites, Jackie babe, then all your problems will become even more insufferable." He said with flourish and chuckled as he stepped through, lowering the glasses slightly as he winked right back at Jack. Honestly, Gabriel wasn't sure what they were doing but Talon hadn't contacted him and there was no reason he couldn't busy himself by clinging to Jack's side like a parasite. It even felt normal on a level. He huffed when he stepped outside, thankful for his hindsight to put on sunglasses, it was simply hellishly bright outside.    
  
Gabriel took a few steps forward and looked around to get a grasp on what part of town they were in. He recognized a few things but he'd be damned if he was going to eat anything from a food truck or a shady hidden bar. Fumbling as he patted his pockets, a map that was still crinkling with nanites at the edges appeared as he pulled it out of his pocket, "Ta-da, I'm a fucking magician." He said as he wandered over to an ancient picnic table and laid out the of the city.    
  
"There's supposedly a decent eating place here on the pier," Gabriel tapped the small tourist map he'd seemingly pulled out of his ass so to speak. "I could eat some fish," he said mildly contemplative before he slid the pamphlet like map over to Jack, "Anything you want specifically?" Gabriel tilted his glasses down batting his eyelashes and leaning exaggeratedly over the picnic table like a drama queen. He was insufferable.

\-----

As Gabriel shuffled ahead Jack locked the door. The room was paid through the week but given the company he could perhaps be convinced to spend a little more for better surroundings. The view wasn't bad here though. Jack made it a point to hang back, admire the sights and only half listened to what Gabriel was saying. Even given a little clap to emphasis that, yes, he was listening. And that, no, he most definitely wasn't checking out the assets displayed so profusely before him. Definitely time to splurge for the better hotel. Talon was due for another raid soon anyway.   
  
"Honestly," Jack said leaning over the map. His shoulder bumped into Gabriel's trying to get a better look at the brochure. The pier sounded fine but there was always that little mischievous side to him. "What about here?" Jack's finger pointed and pressed into the terrible paper. Under the nail was a sigh he was certain to get a rise. Two words. Taco. And bell.   
  
He stepped back, arms crossed, ready for the fight he knew was coming. Should be coming. Gabriel had been finicky about proper culture foods in the their last. Slipping into the role of being nearly insufferable for the wraith was too easy. Jack felt relieved in a single stroke. "They sound delicious and being a vigilante doesn't pay well." A somewhat bold faced lie. He was definitely going to get a better hotel room.  He made sure the words were quiet to be kept from prying ears nonetheless.

\-----

Gabriel thought he had the upper hand until he looked down to see Jack pointing to the establishment he knew the man  **_wasn't_ ** pointing to unless he wanted to wear that smug as shit grin as a necklace. "You would eat that  **_garbage_ ** ." It was almost dangerous the level his voice dropped and the man looked offended. Deeply offended at the old hate for the 'Mexican' establishment.    
  
"They serve nothing but GARBAGE! Disgusting! Vile!  _ Mierda envuelta en pan _ ! IF YOU TAKE ME THERE I WILL-" Gabriel forced a hand over his mouth as he screamed muffled profanities and jabbed a finger Jack's chest before he stormed in a small circle. He even kicked his way into the room again before stomping back out as if he would blow any moment and was looking for a place to leave pieces of anyone in his wake. "I will REAP EVERY DAMN ONE OF THOSE MAGGOT FILLED-" He had to do it again, slam a hand over his mouth at the white hot anger filling his every fiber of being to the point he almost lost shape.    
  
It took him a long moment to take in the highly amused look on Jack's face to suddenly seem embarrassed as he could only stomp his foot in how easily he'd be  _ goaded _ . Gabriel was really losing hsi touch to be stammering like a small child at the mere mention of the shittest most disgusting representation of his culture's food that could die in a fi-He had to breathe deep to keep from flinging Jack or himself at the nearest spike to clear the memory of that place from his mind.

"No," it was said through an audible grind of teeth as he tried to reel in the pure fury just wanting to burst free even realizing that Jack had purposefully lured him into the outburst. He glared daggers at Jack from above the sunglasses and thin plumes of smoke seeped from his mouth as he crossed his arms, "The pier, Jackie, and that's that." He said with little room to argue, just daring Jack to fight him about it. Gabriel planted hands on his hips and leaned his shoulders forward in a brisk challenge for it.

\-----

The tantrum was ....unexpected. The rant wasn't. The seething ball of fury and shadow though ... Jack drew back just enough to put a small measure of distance. Just to be on the safe side. He had wanted a reaction not a disaster. In previous discussions of the topic of what counted for authentic Mexican food throwing smoke and threatening lives hadn't been involved. Lot changes in a scant few years.   
  
When Gabriel came down, somewhat calm, Jack pushed into the other man's space. Rough hands grabbed the material of the hoodie, forced down Gabriel's face into a messy sloppy kiss. It was meant to quiet any further complaint. Perhaps that did the trick but he wasn't certain, still stepping back nonetheless.    
  
"Seafood sounds wonderful." Jack whispered, one hand still clenched in the thick material of the hoodie, holding onto the wraith's clothing for grounding. The walk to the pier was uneventful. In the late morning sun there was a certain heat to the day that made Jack question the choice of hoodie. He had an idea as to why such clothing was necessary but surely it was boiling inside those clothes. He chose to keep his mouth shut on the subject. No point in having another breakdown in the middle of a crowded pier.

\-----

Gabriel had been thrown off by his own little outburst, though he hadn't had any real focus for his anger and he felt a bit embarrassed by it. If he had been capable of it he would have had the decency of blushing to convey his embarrassment. He hummed into the kiss, he was only slightly irked by the fact Jack could reign in his legendary temper with a few seconds of kissing.    
  
He must really have it bad to be tamed so easily. A few seconds of nuzzling into that warm, soft pair of lips and-Shit he really did have it bad. Jack wasn't the best kisser but he certainly put feeling into it and pouted when Jack pulled away. They had a lifetime of kisses to make up for and goddamn if he didn't want to forgo all of it for some intense lip locking.    
  
"Who taught you how to kiss?" Gabriel hummed as he nodded about the seafood as he lazily followed along behind Jack as they stepped onto the pier. It was strange being around so many people. Usually when he was around such a large group he was looking for the best way to kill them. He shifted a bit closer to Jack, he couldn't help the way he focused on people's weak spots. How easy it would be to just reach out and slit a few throats. He was more than a little relieved when they reached the restaurant bordering the ocean.    
  
The sweet salty smell of the water helped distract him and he loosened up a bit as it drifted him into a calmer sense, even his lingering shadows pulled in. Gabriel almost seemed completely as he would haveif things hadn't gone wrong. He was just another decently aged man enjoying a day on the pier.

As they walked together, Gabriel nudged at Jack's side, slipping his hand into the other man's. He moved closer to him to hide the way their fingers slid together and how he held onto Jack's warm hand. If he was going to indulge in the sweetness of a day where things might not have gone awry he was going to milk it for all it was worth and he felt like holding Jack's hand.    
  
When they got to the restaurant, he let go begrudgingly as he told th waiter to give them a seat that faced seaside and was private. They got a look but Gabriel simply tilted down his sunglasses and glared through the young man's head who was more than happy to seat them after that. He disappeared rather quickly afterwards though and the wraith chuckled as they could look out on the sparkling waves that slipped far out into the world with only the most mute sounds of others around them. The spot they had been given was rather put out.

\-----

Like those years before the weakness of his presence did the trick. Jack had smirked at the reaction. Knew it would irk the wraith. Not yesterday they had been at odds, ready to engage in an act one part fury and all unbridled sexual frustration. His meltdown had out a grinding halt to that endeavor.   
  
Jack followed. Quiet, pensive, one arm itching to grab and hold onto Gabriel. Talon would come calling again. The wraith would have to answer. Their momentary peace would be broken and Gabriel would have a bullet aimed for his head. Jack held his breath, let it out with a shudder, and banished the thought of the inevitable.   
  
"You did." His snarky reply came. The old soldier shoved his hands into the roomy pockets of baggy jeans. Still the clothing did a bang up job of putting the man's assets on display. For all to see. Jack got a small amount of mirth at the idea of eyes other than Gabriel's roaming and setting off the envious streak he knew was buried under all of the other man's posturing. At Gabriel's closeness Jack dared, one hand sneaking and slipping into the front pocket of the hoodie. His fingers twined around Gabriel's and from under the bill of his cap Jack offered a sincere, calm smile. His hand squeezed, felt the tension run through Gabriel's body in the attempt to soothe.   
  
Crowds were far from his favorite place but maybe not for the same reasons. Too many heads. He didn't have enough bullets or flesh to protect them. A handful would die and he would add more souls to the already impressive pile he couldn't crawl out from under. The cap shifted, white hair rested against Gabriel's strong shoulder. He toyed with the rough texture of those familiar hands. Enjoyed the domestic scene. Ignored his minds constant reminders this wouldn't last. One call and they would be at odds yet again.

The display earned an eye roll. Jack edged away, a safe distance but still close, followed quiet behind the imposing figure Gabriel cut. The view was nice too. A butt Jack was always envious of. He reached out, offered the temptation a quick pinch before sliding until his seat. Water for him please Jack informed the waiter before holding up the menu, looking through the prices. So much for that fancy hotel room. He looked for something that could keep and give him more than one meal.   
  
Pasta. Crab. It worked well enough. The waiter brought bread and Jack idly tore through the free food. "When will they call?" He wanted to know yet didn't want the answer. There was no way around the inevitable. He leaned on one hand, paid attention to Gabriel's shifts, and under the table lightly ran his foot along the outline of the wraith's calf.

\-----

Gabriel gave a small throaty noise at Jack's answer; it flooded him briefly of all the times Gabriel overwhelmed a younger Jack with 'kissing practice'. It would often leave the other man weak in the knees as Gabriel lavished him teeth and tongue. The thought made him curious to see how much Jack actually remembered from those little sessions. He reveled in the way Jack responded to their fingers tangled together and made a small pleased sound when Jack leaned on his shoulder.    
  
He knew they shouldn't be reveling so deeply in the moment but he was hard pressed to pull them out of it. They deserved a little bit of peace, even if it was fragile, it was much better than the tornado of emotion they got caught up in the night before. There was a harshness still there; a lot of issues still unresolved, their uncompromising differences and clashing moralities but, for the moment, they were put away.    
  
Gabriel gave a small start at the pinch and looked at Jack with a bit of surprise as he gave an audible snort. He could see the way the other man's eyes were scanning the menu, "I'm paying,  _ anciano _ ," he said waving his hand absentmindedly, "no need to dip into your retirement fund," there was a tug at the corner of his lips at his own snarky comment before he took a roll, idly pulling into pieces before eating it.    
  
Gabriel gave a shrug as he started to destroy another innocent roll and opened his mouth to answer before he froze at the rather forward footsie Jack was giving him, "Not for a while if you keep that up,  _ carino _ ," he started up again, "I'm not cheap; big jobs can vary from days to weeks in between, the occasional small job to distract myself." He said it as the waiter returned and he gave his order and drink, beer with his lobster/shrimp meal.

\-----

He rolled his eyes. The word didn't go over his head. The meaning was there. In the words. In the way Gabriel's lips turned up a little at the ends. In the slight light that danced behind those masked crimson eyes. The sunglasses couldn't hide the taunting nature of the remark.   
  
His foot continued in its movements. The freeze to Gabriel's words was reward enough. The action had an effect and that's what Jack wanted. Desired even. "Here's to a few weeks then." It was the wish of a young man's selfish heart and the old soldier raised his water glass with a tip of his head. He sent a silent prayer up (not a particularly religious man but it was a painless gesture) that for a little while longer he could indulge in this farce of a life together.   
  
"Thanks," Jack grunted to the waiter as the food settled on the table. This close to the water there was no shortage of fresh seafood. It showed by the abundance and pleasant smells that surrounded them. The salt of the sea and the slight buttery tinge to the lobster settled in the pasta. Jack had indulged at Gabriel's words. An pricey plate but not absurd. While the wraith ate Jack produced a throw away phone, called one of the finer hotels in the area, and settled for a room for the night.    
  
"My turn. You spoil this old man too much and my pride might give up." Jack snorted, titled his hat back, cleaned off the food. He was hungry than he thought. His foot stopped moving for only a handful of moments. Now it began again. He didn't care who saw. Too old to be bothered with the murmurs of nosy teenagers.

\-----

The wraith couldn't stop the good natured smile that spread across his face at Jack's words. They were both being wistful and indulging in the fantasy, lingering in the pleasures that had seemed so out of reach only days ago. A little pocket of another life, another universe where things had lined up in their favor instead of against it. In a way it felt like they were being allowed to catch up on the chasm of time that had split them. Gabriel hung onto that thought and pressed it close   
  
The fluidity of the way they reacted to each other, trading quips and snark even how they looked at one another. It made Gabriel greedy for more, more of the easy interaction they had together. The nostalgia was bleeding away into more recent memories and Gabriel found himself suddenly hungry for ones that wouldn't tinge with the hurt of older times. New memories. With Jack. He was being hopeful again, yearning for something to let him have something new. If it was fragile and temporary, he found himself caring less about the end as he wanted to linger in the now.    
  
He made a curious face as he ate the seafood, it wasn't his first time eating it but it might as well have been considering the time. "Salty." It was a short comment and he continued to shovel the food into his mouth so it must have been that bad. Gabriel raised a brow at Jack's phone, mildly surprised it wasn't an older model. "You have a moderately decent phone? I'm shocked." He even put a hand over his face as he said it to push his surprise. Honestly he had half expected Jack to pull out some horrendous brick phone with the large keyboard.

Gabriel ate slowly, almost modestly, and had a small habit of pulling his food into smaller portions before eating it. A habit he must have picked up though he also conscious of the sharp line of teeth and didn't want to draw attention to the inhumane trait. A brow curiously raised itself at Jack's continued footsie before chuckled as he returned the brazen touches as shadows stealthily slithered up Jack's leg, stroking idly up the muscular calf trailing feather caresses.    
  
"A fancy room? Pulling out the big stops there, old man, soon you'll be whipping out the champagne and flowers." Gabriel said good naturedly as his eyebrows danced comically on his face as he gave a soft laugh. When was the last time he let himself do that? It was velvety easy sound that slipped almost carelessly as he leaned back. "So forward." He whispered more smiles sliding across his face as he tilted his head down attempting to fight them.    
  
The waiter drifted back and asked if they wanted dessert, Gabriel struggled to contain his laughter as he felt a smooth rise of Jack's foot growing bold. He hated how much he loved the attention and Jack's coy nature slipping through. It was intoxicating. "I'll take a cheesecake." He finally managed to get out the words after biting his lip to fight the small pearls of laughter sliding out.

\-----

He snorted, gave an incredulous look in Gabriel's direction before withdrawing his foot. If the man wanted to tease him then Jack could simply stop being so nice. It didn't hurt. Gabriel had said potential weeks. That small iota of hope sparked in Jack's chest and he held onto it, stroked the fire, let it kindle into something precious and necessary in this dark life. He would buy what Gabriel was selling as it were.   
  
"Almost bought a brick. The sound of it smacking the back of your head would be satisfying right about now," Jack growled all play and no real threat. His plate was empty. His breath stopped for a moment when the shadows told bold. They moved from his calf up and explored. In public of all places. Jack glared pointedly at the other man. The hotel couldn't be checked into until around three anyway. Something about last minute preparations for the room. No champagne but maybe rose petals if only to dig that jab into Gabriel's side.   
  
The waiter seemed blissfully unaware of the game going on under the lengthy table cloth. Jack's foot crept up, touches the underside of Gabriel's knee, and he smirked as the intrusion was mimicked by the shadows. Couldn't even go a few minutes without their minds drifting to the better times. "I'm fine." Jack waved at the waiter. The kid scurried away with an odd bow. He noted the action. Maybe their activities under the table weren't as inconspicuous as originally gathered.

"Plan on taking me on a walk along the pier? Romantic date? Too old bastards enjoying their golden years." Jack snickered, adjusted the way his hat sat before rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. The waiter returned quick. Placed the plate, left the bill, and took their dirty dishes back to the kitchen without a word. Good service. Jack pulled a handful of bills from his wallet and slipped them across the table.   
  
"At least let me get the tip." Jack said. He wouldn't budge on this one. His foot stopped, settled back in the ground while Gabriel indulged in the creamy pleasure that was cheesecake. Too sweet for Jack's taste and he politely declined the offer of a bite.

\-----

Gabriel nearly choked after Jack's empty threat about bricking him, the laughter was pure when it slipped out and he threw his head back. Just being able to see the serious look on Jack's face as he said it was too much to bear. He was having too much fun, things were perfect and he was excited, nearly thrumming with the urge to do more things. Push how long they go do this.   
  
"Someone has to show you how to woo someone properly," he said with an empty snarky tone, "might as well be me." Gabriel conceded to Jack's insistence for the tip as he pulled a few himself and put their combined amount on the check. He licked a bit at his lips, chasing the sweetly creamed dessert still lingering there a little before he seemed to be considering something. The last forkful lingered on his tongue as he looked back toward the pier. Jack had a good idea. They could just walk the scenic pier.    
  
Curiously enough, there seemed to be one with a theme park setting a little further down from where they were. They were having some good luck with the set up, "Why don't we hit the pier with all the rides and make out on the Ferris wheel?" He offered with a smile tugging at his lips again, he was only half joking, lingering back on that desire to kiss Jack silly to see if he still had those skills he attempted to teach him.   
  
"No reason to cut the day short," he stood up as he slid over to Jack, holding out his hand like a gentleman, "wouldn't want to put all this lovely daylight to waste." Gabriel was all smiles as he looked at Jack from above the glasses, it was nice to just drink in the other man's expressions. The way emotions played over the soft summer blue eyes was breathtaking. He wanted to drink them as long as he could and if it meant them being silly old men wandering rides and watching the sun sink over the horizon. He'd happily do that.

\-----

"Pity I don't see anyone capable of doing that here." Jack snapped back with obvious sarcasm. They left the restaurant close to each other. Outside of the restaurant his hand slipped back into the pouch of the hoodie. The image of Gabriel licking the sweet batter of the cheesecake off those tempting lips. All kinds of inappropriate idea came to mind. The thought earned a shake of his head and Jack's slight chuckle--a mimic and mockery of what Gabriel had done at the restaurant.   
  
"Sounds naughty. I'd say my honor was in trouble but you never were a saint," Jack snorted. He leaned against the other man. They meandered through the crowd shoulder to shoulder, lost in the presence of the other. The old soldier leaned their steps towards the Ferris Wheel in question. There was a short line and they slotted in easily enough. The curious glance of a child at Gabriel earned a raised brow from Jack. The kid giggled then turned back around, tugged on their mother's hand until she turned. With a word of apology the woman and the child boarded the ride.   
  
The cart moved as the kid waved out the side. Jack allowed a smile. He pulled the hat further down his forehead. The duo stepped past the tired looking teen operating the machine and settled into the ride. "I used to be scared of heights remember. Some things change." Jack commented sliding into the seat. Gabriel followed. The teen closed and locked the door with a grunt. He didn't immediately lean against the wraith, eyes focused outside at the pier. It was a gorgeous sight.

\-----

Gabriel seemed to withdraw a bit more when the kid focused on him and kept his face angled away when the woman turned to look at him, an interesting gesture. Maybe he was thinly afraid of someone recognizing him in case there were others nearby who would find it more interesting. He almost disappeared against Jack's shoulder before the kid and his mother climbed in their car.    
  
He visibly relaxed when they got on their own cart and he looked around the clearly aged ride. It was comforting being close to watch and just looking at him. Those summer blue eyes were gazing out on the view with adoration and Gabriel couldn't help but give Jack the same. The man was older, that was no doubt, but he'd aged well despite a vigilante lifestyle. His hair was snow white but his eyes had only grown more luminous. He truly was like the moon gazing down on the world, shedding his light. Faded but not gone.   
  
He could see the lights reflecting in Jack's eyes, the dizzying combination of light and darks looked magical. Gabriel felt the cart lurch a bit as it spun up and he nuzzled close against Jack's shoulder. Jack's warmth made him want to turn into nothing against and press against his naked flesh but he held back the urge simply letting his arms slid around the body next to him. Once they lifted up a bit, Gabriel pulled back to lower his hood and take off the sunglasses as he tucked them in his pocket.

"Yeah, things change." It was more of a whisper than an actual inquiry or question, he pushed his face into the nook of Jack's shoulder.  _ We changed. _ Those words hung in the air and Gabriel, for once, didn't think it was such a bad change. "I was hoping to make out but it looks like I've been beat by the scenery." Gabriel's sarcastic remark finally broke the silence as he pushed closer looking out the window before he took Jack's hand he held earlier. He brought it up and pushed it against one side of the cart as he drew Jack's attention him, "Jealous of a pier, that's a new one for me." It was a low chuckle as he leaned in close letting their noses brush before he tilted to brush his lips against Jack's.    
  
"I'm dying to see if you retained any of those skills I spent so long teaching you, Jackie. Apparently something stuck in that head of yours," he hummed as he met Jack's bright blue eyes and felt a little weak kneed at the look in them. His weakness back then had been Jack's eyes, it seemed like they still were.

\-----

Being close again was nostalgic. It was peace. Momentary and fleeting and he could forget their past in the landscape sprawled under them. Jack watched curious as Gabriel closed the gap, hood and sunglasses removed. Exposed like this, not far from the ground, the wraith could be seen easy enough. Perhaps the details weren't apparent but an observant eye could make out something strange in Gabriel's appearance. He nodded in agreement. Things change. The world changes. They changed--their old selves left behind and trapped in their state from an explosion.   
  
"Can't beat a good Kincaid," Jack snorted. His white side showing. His head tilted to the side, watched as Gabriel moved closer. The Eskimo kiss. The chilled breath from the other man's mouth. Just there. Like a teenager Jack's eyes darted down to look at Gabriel's lips. He wanted the taste. The brush wasn't enough. The snarky words were cut short, the rest mumbled between them, Jack pulled Gabriel against him. His tongue licked across the cool crease, Jack requested access. A small wince with his tongue nicked against a fang. Second time in as many days. He would need to be mindful of those.   
  
Pulling back, rested against the rusted metal of the cart, Jack ran a hand through the curls presented to him. With the hood and glasses done he could appreciate the view--not the pier. "Guess I didn't." He chuckled. One thumb fell into a circle across the flaky skin. Beautiful in a grotesque way. Jack leaned in, left a light kiss before shifting to look out over Gabriel's shoulder. They were at the top now. Overlooking the ocean. It was gorgeous.

\-----

Gabriel was going to make another wise crack but he was effectively silenced by Jack closing the distance. He hummed into the kiss and made a muffled 'mmphf' noise when Jack pulled him in closer. He felt a shudder and let his hand settle on Jack's shoulder when he let Jack slip in. It made his stomach flutter and his head a bit light. He wasn't sure if he appreciated how they just left him spinning and needy for more kisses.    
  
The urge was sated a bit with the lazy tug of fingers running through his hair again, he leaned into the fingers rolling across his skin with a humming pleased sound. "Not as bad as you used to be but you could use some work," he said idly thinking about it, there was a bit of irk at Jack looking away from him but he let it go. Only a day with each other and he was already flustering over Jack not looking at him, he was acting more like a young brat than Jack was.    
  
Instead of pouting, Gabriel made himself comfortable as he leaned against Jack's chest and followed his gaze. The ocean was a blanket of stars shimmering just below the surface and he didn't hear the small gasp that left him upon seeing it. The bright, wide moon shone down on the ocean and the mirror of it rippled in the lazy waves that seemed to go on forever. The sight made Gabriel breathless and a small bit sad. It was just like Jack, ultimately out of reach. The thought hurt him and he looked away.

"That's a Kodiak moment if I've ever seen one," he said with a chuckle trying to push away the sudden sharp stab of pain in his chest. This wasn't the time for those kind of thoughts, not now at least. Gabriel looked up as the Ferris wheel made a groaning sound and they were almost to the top. He lifted off of Jack somewhat to look out of the windows near Jack. The ground looked as though it was on fire and they were only spectators watching from the heavens. It was simultaneously beautiful and horrifying to Gabriel at the way he thought of it.    
  
He blinked and it was more akin to a goddess having dropped her jewels; pearls of white, blistering gleaming emeralds, haunting sapphires and stretches of golden thread spread on the black landscape of the world. It painted a picture and he felt somewhat silly as he told Jack his thoughts on it as his cheeks burned with embarrassment, "You were right, I'm getting sickeningly poetic in my age." Gabriel bit his lip and gave a light chuckle at the thought.

\-----

"There is always room for improvement," came the murmured reply. Jack's hand worked through the curls in a steady rhythm. The motion was soothing. The normalcy of the action brought with it memories of their life in SEP, the Crisis, even the first few days of Overwatch. Before it all went to hell in a hand basket. With a shake of his head, Jack tightened his grip on the curls, brought the head up and pushed them together once more. He savored the slight acidic taste of Gabriel now. The smoke was new but it already curled in his system. Jack could take a part of Gabriel with him with this dream ended.   
  
Listening to the quiet contemplation of the scene below them as Gabriel described it, Jack settled into the crook of the cart's bars. The scene was lovely. Wonderful. Torn right from the paintings in his grandparent's house but it compared only an iota to the man examining it. Only when Gabriel was done did he move. Both hands wrapped around the wraith's midsection, draw him back pressed into Jack's chest. A feather kiss laid against the shifting skin of Gabriel's forehead. "I'm staring at a Kodiak painting." Jack whispered into the curls his cheek now rested on top of.

They stopped at the top. He shifted them, urged Gabriel up, fingers ran down the front of the other man's shirt and laid gentle kisses to his forehead, cheeks, nose, and finally tilted the man's lips up to take them captive. The kiss was long and careful. He explored what the wraith offered, what he became. Drank down all that was Gabriel now. Memorized and locked away. On the battlefield they would aim for vitals but here they shot to kill. Cliche and he couldn't be bothered to care. Jack breathed through his nose, deepened the kiss, pressed for more. Tender touches, blue eyes watching the way Gabriel responded before closing. A soft moan and enjoyed the man before him. Jack broke away reluctantly. "The hotel isn't far. Movie? Cuddle?" Jack's hand trailed down, toyed with the bottom rung of Gabriel's hoodie, eyes lidded and glanced up. "Dessert?"

\-----

Gabriel made a face that bordered between surprise and soft relief that mirrored in a vague shine in his eyes. Unshed tears that only brimmed further with the gentle kisses peppering across his skin. Each felt kiss was almost painful how they made his heart clench in the sweetest way and couldn't fit them as they rolled down his cheeks at Jack's words. It was nirvana there resting against Jack and letting himself get overwhelmed with the sentimental gestures. Hands nearly twisted in Jack's shirt, a desperate attempt to hold onto the moment and hope that time would freeze it.    
  
He wiped furiously at his face when Jack got him to sit back up. The vague loss of being pressed against Jack, hearing the soft patter of his heartbeat and being lulled by how it hadn't changed. It was soft and consistent, the sound that kept Jack alive. Kept those eyes bright and his smile even though he'd aged, had been through so much. Gabriel felt silly, he had cried more in the last two days than he had in years. It was such a relief to feel himself being able to do it; to make harsh disgusting noises to match the black tears.   
  
He gasped lightly as Jack pressed into him again, Jack's mouth much more forward and making his mind scream in delight at finally getting the deep, searching kiss he'd been aching for. Gabriel couldn't hold back the small pleading noises he shared with each careful prod of Jack's tongue briskly touching his, the way both of the slick muscles curled against the other. Warm. Jack's lips swallowed him and pressed against his as Gabriel pushed back, the thrill spreading over him akin to a heat threading out all over.

He couldn't help the smoke trickling between them or the wisps that escaped tainting the air around them and he audibly groaned when he broke off the kiss, Jack was torturing him with the way he only gave him doses of that sweet mouth at a time. Gabriel tilted his head curiously at the options before seeing Jack give him those eyes. If they were going to trade kissing for that he'd be happy to do so.

"Dessert? Do you find yourself," Gabriel hummed as he licked his lips slowly as he looked down, " _ hungry _ for something?" He gave a soft almost purring noise in the back of his throat, "Let's get out of here. I'm taking anything you're offering," Gabriel leaned down as he kissed Jack's forehead, "including yourself." It was suggestive the way he growled it out and gave a soft chuckle when the wheel jerked back to life as he pulled the hood back up and the sunglasses reformed over his sharp red eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!
> 
> Note: _"Mierda envuelta en pan!"_ === "Shit wrapped in bread!"


	7. Chapter 7

His thumb followed the line of Gabriel's cheek, caressed the shifting flesh there. Watched how the skin gave, melted under the touch, only to reform once his hand moved away. The fangs. The eyes. The monster that had taken over the man he loved couldn't delude what lay underneath. Savor the moment soldier. Keep it close at heart. The battlefield and their agendas were far away in this time.    
  
"For something for sure." Jack responded with a curl of his lip. The Ferris Wheel started moving again. With the purr behind the words, the old soldier drew Gabriel closer. They pressed together, his lips traced the edge of the wraith's ear. The whispered words, the name of the hotel breath across the space between them. It took a moment. Jack was not prepared. The sudden gasp for air, the way the smoke replaced his body, and time and place disappeared, they landed in the alleyway to the side of the establishment.   
  
Jack staggered for a moment. Right on his feet, he straightened the hat and moved towards the entrance to the hotel. He entered, back straight, right to the counter. His belongings at the dingy place should be fine for the night. That room was paid for. There was a note to not be disturbed. Jack knew how to get his stuff back if it went missing--small trackers on the rifle and in the bag could tell where they were from his phone. Jack checked in.   
  
Once the formalities were done he reached around, grabbed Gabriel's arm, pulled the man close and towards the elevator. "Movie first. Dessert later. Room service here is great," he whispered conspiratorially. His hand slipped away, down the line of Gabriel's side, and ran along the line of the shapely ass presented in those sinful jeans. "Or so I'm told." He felt like a teenager, danced away with mischief in his summer sky blue eyes into the elevator. The room was on the third floor. Fourth from the right out of the elevator.

\-----

Gabriel bit his lip harder as he followed Jack into the hotel and was zeroed in on his attractively clothed asset. Those jeans were hugging him in the right places especially around his waist or how it trailed down to squeeze at his thighs. He wasn't sure how he should feel with this teenager level horniness infecting him since Jack looked at him with those soft blue eyes. The night before hadn't been enough, even if he'd dreamt of how Jack tasted before letting it break apart and get absorbed into him.    
  
Jack's teasing was doing wonders at destroying Gabriel's patience and resolve. He was surprised he hadn't just snapped and fulfilled the growing desire that was still lingering from when he'd demanded the man to fill him the first time. He felt his skin ripple with goosebumps when Jack pulled him close and whispered against his lips. Gabriel wanted to draw it out, he really did but Jack flirting was pushing his limits further than he thought he could resist.    
  
Gabriel followed like a puppy as he slipped into the elevator before it shut and nearly glared the other occupants who slipped in with a vicious almost rippling stare before he pulled it in and bit the inside of his mouth. It didn't stop his shadows from reaching out, just out of sight, and slipping up the back of Jack's shirt. The shadow spread sliding against the other man's sides and hugging across his chest as Gabriel felt this little sneaky plan of his was backfiring.    
  
He withdrew them before he destroyed the last of his sanity and nearly ripped off Jack's arm as he shoved past the people in the elevator as it came to their floor. Gabriel never glared so hard at a door before as they came to it and he was tempted to rip the door right off of its hinges. The time in between helped temper his need a bit and he relaxed as Jack worked on getting the door open.

Looking around, he realized the hotel was really nice and it smelled surprisingly warm if not comforting. He felt lazy, the desire was still there, but it less urgent and he wrapped his arms around Jack's back leaning his cheek against the man while he tried to get the door open. He was feeling a little less crazy but it didn't make him want to be any less of a pain.

\-----

Gabriel's familiar weight against his back caused him to stumble. In more ways than one. Jack held down the choke. Emotional and sentimental were words he chose to distance himself from. In this case they came crashing down like the waves on the cliff faces of Gibraltar. Sturdy feet instinctively spaced to take the off balancing position kept him from falling forward. Sheer force of will did the rest of the work. This odd combination of persistence and pleasure kept him moving.   
  
The room itself was sparse. One queen sized bed supposedly fresh and washed. Two nights stands. A facsimile of a desk and chair set. A holovid from the local rental place. And the mini fridge. Undoubtedly stocked with due diligence. Jack ignored them all, turned in the iron grasp Gabriel held around his waist, and laid a quick peck to the top of those smokey curls.   
  
"Going to need you to stop being clingy for two seconds," he said. There was a tone, a note of suffering and humor in the words. An adult putting up with the antics of a bothersome child. That child in question was a smoke monster former lover and Jack didn't mind being pestered with the grip. He pried the hands loose, pushed Gabriel back to arms length. A finger placed itself against Gabriel's lips, silenced any further complaints before Jack (fire dancing in his summer blue eyes) kicked the door shut. It closed with a satisfying click. Locked and they wouldn't, shouldn't be bothered.

His jacket fell to the floor. The hat was tossed to a nightstand. He flicked the light on casually. "Stop crying. It doesn't look good on you. Ruins the whole smoke and mirrors thing you have going on." Jack meant the words as a snarky jab and backed them up by pressing forward, closed the distance, bare hands wrapped into the hoodie that Gabriel had materialized. The fabric felt real, firm, reminiscent of the old one Jack would see the former Blackwatch Commander wander around the base in. He dearly missed these quiet moments.   
  
The kiss was tender. Not alterior motives. Just a want to be held and touched and take himself back to a time when his hair was blond and Gabriel wasn't away every night for weeks, months on end. Time as the Strike Commander had been far from kind. Gabriel's time wasn't any better.

\-----

Gabriel huffed like a petulant child as Jack pulled him off and he temporarily swayed as if he would fall over before he righted himself and puffed out his cheeks with the finger against his lips but it melted at the blaze lighted in Jack's eyes. Gabriel hadn't seen that look since the first time he'd locked eyes with the stubborn young man a lifetime ago. The small gesture of Jack's foot kicking the door made Gabriel thrill in ways he didn't think was possible or healthy.    
  
Shivers spread over him at each piece of clothing that Jack discarded and sharp teeth worried his bottom lip before he snorted a bit at the words thrown his way, "I'm not a very good monster," there were more words but they died on his tongue as soon as those hands tangled in his hoodie. Gabriel saw the brief flicker of memory dance across those baby blues and he leaned forward as they slipped into an easy kiss.    
  
His hands had fidgeted into his pockets but now they were seeking, gripping at Jack's shirt and sliding around his back to pull him closer. It had only been a few minutes but the distance felt like miles and the time was centuries ago. They always fit together so well and he found it comical as their bodies slotted like a piece that had been missing.    
  
Gabriel pressed into the soft touch of their lips as he felt his mind settle. No more fretful thoughts invading the peace of what they had created during the day. Everything had been perfect and this, the soft gentle memories flooding into him was making the feel of Jack ecstasy. Gone where the nagging worries chasing every thought. His hands slipped from holding Jack to wandering along his sides, sliding up his chest to simply seek out the other man. The weary broken shutter of his mind felt whole and warm, it was another one of their hidden escapades; passionate and soft.

\-----

It was a stark contrast to their meeting the previous day. The harsh reality and frantic battering were gone. The haunted nightmares from the past disappeared under a blanket of this serene peace between them. Jack wanted it to last. He deeped the kiss, wanted to melt into Gabriel like the night before. A blanket that clung to his every curve, knew his every imperfection, and responded like a tired but adoring lover.   
  
That was the crux of their predicament though. They were both tired. Exhausted. Life pulled them, wrung them dry, then spit them out with a good fist to the head and a goal to simple survive. Any means necessary. It poured from his fiber. From every nook and cranny of his being. Jack groaned into the contact. He only pulled away to direct their movement. It was gentle and coaxing. Like handling a wounded animal. Gabriel had taken care of him.   
  
"Let me." He whispered, soothing hands running down the wrath's side to move him towards the bed. When Gabriel's legs hit the cover Jack worked to ease the man down into the softness. For once the old soldier was thankful for hotels and their pension for too much stuffing.

\-----

Gabriel made a soft sigh when Jack broke their kiss and gave a simple nod when Jack spoke to him, his head was swimming even though he wasn't sure what Jack meant until he was being pushed into the soft comforter of the bed as his cheeks did color this time. An almost black tint came to his cheeks as he looked up at Jack, wondering if Jack really wanted to to do this if he was taking the hint correctly.    
  
"Are you sure?" It was quiet, almost like a whisper as he nearly tripped over the words. The other night he had been full of blind memories and some degree of panic but tonight, there wouldn't be any memories shielding Jack from what Gabriel looked like underneath. He knew his skin wasn't quite right and the odd wisp of darkness slid off of his body or the parts of him that weren't quite there. He was almost, and he hated to admit this to himself, bashful of his appearance and what he looked like without the layers of clothes or leather to protect him.    
  
For once, Gabriel didn't make his clothes simply dissipate. He remembered how Jack used to enjoy peeling back the layers, revealing stripes of his skin and trailing kisses along each part that bared. He would turn them into nothing if that's what Jack wanted but for now he hummed pleasantly at the hands and fingers pressing against him.

\-----

His first desire was to ensure Gabriel enjoyed this. His second, after that, was to ensure Gabriel remembered this. The third was his own pleasure. The events of the previous night lingered like a bad hangover. Cotton mouthed and clouded in the head, Jack waited until his former lover settled into the bed. His hands released the hoodie. Instead those digits moved down, lifted the edge up and over Gabriel's head. His movements were slow and careful like handling something extremely fragile. That's what he was doing. In a way.   
  
Jack moved back, placed the hoodie to the side in a neat semi folded heap. He knew Gabriel could make the garment disappear. Could make it vanish with just a thought but the mechanical and practical motion gave Jack something to do.   
  
His fingers caught Gabriel's chin in an easy grasp, drew the man up into a deep kiss. His tongue asked for permission before tasting the acidic fumes that were a part of him now. Jack ignored the unsettling manner in which Gabriel's flesh shifted and moved--it flowed like waves and rolled over itself most unnaturally. It was gorgeous in its horror. Jack would worship the man and show that the Reaper was beautiful.   
  
He broke the kiss, teased Gabriel's lower lip before moving down. He paid attention to everything. Ears, chin, jaw, neck, and stopped in his marking at the collar. The scar rested under his hand. Jack stilled to look at the wound. Its memory was fresh and burned at the back of his mind. He gritted down, teeth ground into each other. His mantra to stay away from the past beaten like a dead horse. He forced himself to move and to breath and nipped at Gabriel's collar to distract him. "Let me." He repeated again to dissuade any protests from the man.

\-----

Gabriel tilted his head back a part of him disbelieving what was happening. Jack was actively touching him and being so gentle, he felt the sensations welling up again. He felt himself tremble slightly when Jack pulled him into another soft, lingering kiss that had his breath stuttering between them. It was so slow and gentle, the sensation of it pushed away the wraith's fears making them seem insignificant in the moment.    
  
Gabriel stubbornly bit his lit, holding back the itany of noises trying to slip free but he was breaking down with each little part of him that Jack worshipped. The press of those lips and blunt teeth made him roll against Jack with small arches, his hands uselessly pressed along Jack's shoulders just there to hold on.    
  
Fingers brushed the back of Jack's neck while the other hand tangled in the shirt at the white haired man's shoulder. It grounded him and his eyes watched as Jack pushed past the memory, the scar that marred Gabriel's chest like a painful badge. The soft whisper drained the tension out of him as he leaned more into the bed. His eyes drifted up to the ceiling before he closed them.    
  
"Okay," He hated how small the words felt, how saying it made his voice sound hoarse and weak. There was a trace of fear in them, of the touch that Jack would stop at any moment in disgust at what he'd become. Gabriel desperately clung to the idea that Jack had seen so much and if he turned now...that he wouldn't turn. He wanted to make a quip or sneer but he felt lost for words, not quite speechless, unable and unwilling to break the moment. It felt so fragile and he opened his eyes only to watch, Jack was beautiful. Moonlight bleeding into the shadows that chased after it.

\-----

Blue eyes snapped up and narrowed. The quiet underlying of fear in Gabriel's voice wouldn't do. His hand reached up, pried his lover's fingers free of the shirt. Jack grabbed the back of the cloth, tugged it over his head. The shirt was dropped without a thought. Jack grabbed Gabriel's hand, spread the fingers wide to create a palm and placed the cold shifting skin against the steady, warm, and beating chest.   
  
He watched the play of emotions across Gabriel's face. His heart stuttered, breaking for the monster he had had a hand in creating. There was no way to return to before. To take back what had been done. These simple things. Jack placed his own hand over the mottled skin, twined two sets of calloused and aged fingers together and closed his eyes. His head fell to the side, enraptured by the quiet and the call and the pounding of his heart. Gabriel's silence had its own rhythm and Jack listened.    
  
" _ Mi corazón late por ti. Solo para ti. Siempre lo ha hecho. _ " He whispered between them. Blue eyes shone and Jack leaned forward, pressed Gabriel into the bed. A plea to trust him. In this at least. The fight was outside these four walls. Out there they were the vigilante and the shadow. In here, in this hotel, they could be broken men with broken pasts working to mend the chasm piece by piece. It started with that first step and Jack leapt.   
  
He captured Gabriel's lips in a deep embrace, mindful of the fangs. Jack crawled up the wraith's body. Shivered from the cold. He repeated the sentence, same language, same inflection, as his hands worked the bindings keeping Gabriel's jeans in place. His movements were slow. Handle a skittish animal with care the manual said and Gabriel was the most skittish of them all.

\-----

Gabriel looked small in those moments before his hand was spread over the other man's chest. Jack's heart beat steadily under his hand and he exhaled sharply at the warm press of the other palm resting against his chest. His heart beat weakly if at all, its rhythm slow and irregular but it was there.   
  
His eyes met Jack again and he felt himself relent, there was no bite in his gaze and the fear seemed to dissipate. Gabriel felt weak, each time he heard the phrase being whispered he wanted to shatter, let his chest cave in so Jack could reach in and fill him with those sweet words.    
  
Gabriel slid his arms around Jack's neck as he rose up for the kiss, pushing into Jack as he made sweet little moans, opening his mouth for so he could swallow Jack's words for once. Steal Jack's breath and drink it in deep, let it linger and fill him. He fought the urge to stiffen as he felt the gentle tugs and his hips shifted restlessly. He was calm now but Gabriel didn't know how long his peace would last, his whole body was needy for Jack's touch.    
  
Gabriel part his lips and let the tip of his tongue trace across Jack's whispering mouth as he pushed in. Jack was warm here too and he pushed the cool muscle against his, swirling to graze them together as they slid in harmony. He leaned in, nearly straining to push in deeper at how addicting Jack's taste was. The motion of it distracted him from anything else even as his hips lifted automatically feeling the gentle touch ghost over them.

\-----

Soft murmurs of things left unsaid curled between them. Jack's hands worked the buttons, careful with the zipper, and peeled back the layers. The clothing could so easily be vaporized. Gabriel's will made them appear--they could disappear in just the same manner. That Gabriel allowed him the pleasure of stripping away the coverings was small but needed. Jack didn't know he needed the experience. The ability to peel back the layers to reveal what Gabriel had become. He saw the monster that his former lover was--experienced the true form that Gabriel presented to those he killed. Jack wasn't afraid.

His hands slipped past the waistline, moved along the ridge of hips to dip down, caress and lave attention on Gabriel's sensitive member. Jack ensured his movements were slow, careful, and only continued with the encouragement wrung from Gabriel's throat. The palm of his hand followed the slight curve and full length of the wraith before withdrawing. Jack wasn't meaning to tease. He wanted to worship at the shrine of death. Hand pressed to the small of Gabriel's back he urged the man to lift, worked the jeans down past those familiar hips, and slide the pants off of the wraith's form. Naked and with smoke ebbing off in haphazard waves Jack laid across the dark expanse, settled on his knees, hands reached down to work across the mottle cock Gabriel now possessed.

Jack continued with the soft whispers of encouragement. He worked Gabriel through the emotions. Gave the man time to adjust to the new circumstances. The old soldier felt the tension building in Gabriel's stomach. Saw the way the muscles tensed and threatened to combust. He leaned down, kissed the other man's chest and trailed down to the dusting of hair leading to Gabriel's cock. Jack dipped into what counted for the wraith's bellybutton with a sly smirk. The man had been slightly ticklish in life. He wanted to see if that effect had changed ... Lighten the mood.   
  
Gabriel's emotions were on his sleeve. Jack reached up, thumb running across the man's cheeks to wipe away the black Soft murmurs of things left unsaid curled between them. Jack's hands worked the buttons, careful with the zipper, and peeled back the layers. The clothing could so easily be vaporized. Gabriel's will made them appear--they could disappear in just the same manner. That Gabriel allowed him the pleasure of stripping away the coverings was small but needed. Jack didn't know he needed the experience. The ability to peel back the layers to reveal what Gabriel had become. He saw the monster that his former lover was--experienced the true form that Gabriel presented to those he killed. Jack wasn't afraid.

\-----

Gabriel hated how fragile he was in those moments, he was at the mercy of Jack's careful, gentle stripping and the almost clinical way he was stirring up in every part of he touched. The wraith hadn't been touched by anyone but himself and nervous, halting medical staff in a long time. He didn't feel the black tears slipping down one cheek until Jack wiped them away.    
  
All he could do was focus and shudder, Jack devotion almost hurt it rocked him violently to his core. He huffed arching away from the playful tongue and the ticklish feeling that threatened a slip of a chuckle to follow the tug of a smile from the brisk swipe. He hated as much as he loved Jack's careful touches and the comforting warmth of his body fearlessly pressing against him.    
  
He gave a soft lingering sigh at the press of Jack's lips and hands sliding further down along his hips. Gabriel pressed his head back into the soft comfort giving a gutteral purr that vibrated through him, "You don't need," Gabriel moaned in the back of his throat at the teasing brush along his cock, "to prepare me, perks of being a shadow monster," he felt lazy letting the words roll out of his mouth as he spread his thighs, the press of them stroked along Jack's sides. There was a small smile there, open and sweet, as he said those words.

\-----

Jack chuckled. From his position between the impressive and (corny though it sounded) mythical thighs his lidded blues looked up, caught Gabriel's attention, before the smirking lips dipped down to take the head of the wraith's cock between them. His tongue coated the head, teased the underside, before sliding down halfway. Jack moaned around the hardened flesh. He remembered this, fell into the familiar, and let muscle memory take over where lack of experience might fail him.   
  
The old soldier's hands grabbed the inside of the thighs, held the quivering flesh out of the way, unwilling to let Gabriel take the upper hand. His head bobbed, cheeks hollowed around the cock, and ears attentive to the sounds he could glean from the wraith's throat. Jack smirked around the flesh. He pulled away with a solid pop. "I'm sure." He said cryptically, moved away to stand at the end of the bed. Jack unbuttoned his pants, slide the zipper down, and slipped out of the pants in a fluid motion. He stood, allowed Gabriel to take a mental picture, before sliding forward to straddle Gabriel's hips.   
  
"Anything other fun quirks you have?" He rested forward, elbows braced on either side of the other man's head, lips brushed against Gabriel's ears and cheek. His hot breath heated the space between them. "I'm not worried about preparing you." The almost permanent smirk now on his aged faced, cracked the lines of his features. Jack's hips ground down, his hips gyrated Gabriel's own. The pressure and way that his cock moved with intense friction alongside the wraith's brought a long, low moan from his throat. He leaned further forward then, sat up, the crease between Jack's cheeks and slide them along Gabriel's cock.

\-----

Gabriel looked as though he would say something but it disappeared in loud hiss as soon as he felt the textured flat of Jack's tongue. He made a deep, thick sound as if he was in pain with the slow, easy stroke of the wet muscle working him and the hard pull tugging his cock in the way he remembered all too well. Jack's mouth was hot and he growled at the idle brush of his cock against the velvety inside of his cheek. Jack had the mouth of a pornstar and a agile tongue to go with it.    
  
He twitched at the warm hands slipping along his thighs and huffed irritably as he tried to buck, to trap Jack between the meaty of them like he used to do. The mental picture of a young man struggling to fight the cock pressing in the back of his throat and trapped by the heavy heat of sculpted muscle made his cock jump even when Jack pulled away. Gabriel was partially tempted to jerk him back down and recreate that moment, Jack begging on his cock was one of his favorite memories.    
  
Thoughts fluttered out of Gabriel's head when Jack stripped out and his mouth dried at the sight. Jack was different. He was nothing but beautifully sculpted angles of hard muscle from being on the run, there was only the slightest of soft around his thighs due to age but beyond that he was a pale moonlight god having a tryst with a demon. The soft lighting in the room only helped, gently illuminating the white of his hair making him look ethereal.

Gabriel felt his chest stagger as Jack slid forward, the slop of his strong gorgeous back made his stomach ache in the hot sting of desire dropping there. Grace. Smooth. Delectable. He bit at his lip to bring himself down to focus on the words slipping out of those mouth swollen from the feverish attention he'd given Gabriel. As soon as Jack slipped close above him he wrapped those arms around him, leaning into the pocket of heat stirring between them. He was starting to love that playfully little smirk, it reminded him of the man's edge of cockiness that bled into everything he did. Confidence and pride suited him.

"I'm full of all sorts of surprises, Jackie," he drawled out the man's name letting it roll on his tongue and drip off the tip as if he was sucking on the words. Jack's obscene moan mingled with Gabriel's from the easy slide of their cocks moving together. The wraith raised a brow and a slow grin spread over his face, " _ Mi amor, mi luna _ , you're a little dry," there was a soft, wet suction slipping against Jack's rim a slick pressure rocking against him as he moved against Gabriel's heavy cock.

A tendril, unfurled from the heavy dark shaft and split as it sucked, small tugging sensations worked at the sensitive skin before the tapered tip of them pushed in spreading Jack open as the slick of it pressed in. He groaned lowly as the tendril pierced and swirled inside of Jack, he was scathing almost unbearably hot as it worked in thrusting slow before it began to swell rocking and stretching the hot clench as his hands greedily slipped on those hips. He pinned Jack against it, thrusting as more of those slick tips slipped in as they began to dissolve leaving the man dripping with it.

\-----

"Indeed you are." Jack moaned at the initial press of that strange, solid smokey tendril. It was strange--an understatement. The girth of a finger wasn't there. The hard callouses he knew from decades ago felt lacking. The words that flowed out of Gabriel's native tongue brought a full body shudder through Jack's shoulders and back. He bit down on his cheek to hold in the sharp scream. The pressure moving inside him was foreign and familiar.    
  
His body continued to grind, to move against the hardened length of Gabriel's cock, teasing himself on what the wraith offered. Jack growled, ground down, stuttered for a second when the tendril inside thickened. The cry was harsh and choked out. The pain turned to pleasure. The burn was still there, on the fringe of his conscious, aware of it but ignored to chase the ectasy that Gabriel was offering. "What did I say about tentacles? You're still a brat, you know that." Jack grunted.   
  
The old soldier reached around, grabbed the tendril. It wreathed in his hold and with a quick jerk he pulled it free. The solid pop and release of pressure made him moan. He immediately missed the solid pressure. One hand fiddled with the position. Grappling firmly around Gabriel's cock, Jack teased the head of the member across the eager entrance. Sky blue eyes watched the way Gabriel reacted as the head slide in. Jack stopped past the first strain. This was larger than he recalled. His jaw clenched tight, held still, breathed, before moving back further.   
  
"Full of surprises. Can you do an old man a favor and adjust the size too?" Jack chuckled weakly. Even still he moved back, felt the way the man's cock pressed in. It was tight. The pain of being spread further than prepared earned a grunt from between ground teeth. His hands moved to grip Gabriel's sides, blunt fingers holding the broken flesh in a strong grip.

\-----

Gabriel chuckled but groaned at the hand clutching the tendril, the way those fingers slid along the slick of it made his breath come up short. He threatened to fill Jack with a hard thrust but his control clamped down hard, he didn't want to hurt Jack. It was hard to recall at with the vicious tight clamp squeezing him. Impatience and horny were more of Jack's traits that he had forgotten but was getting reacquainted with.    
  
"You're being reckless, old man," Gabriel groaned out as he reached down, sharp pricks of his nails digging into the muscle of Jack's ass as he tried to hold him for a moment. He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate, as the girth already pressing into Jack began slick. As it wet the insides he wasn't able to reach before there was that strange squirming feeling pushing inside of him swirling and thickening gradually to spread him around what was already there. It undulated and pulsated obscenely as it rocked in deeper, moving faster than it had before as was similar to being filled but the slick was moving.    
  
Gabriel hissed brokenly at the sensation of reaching so far into Jack as the loose stretching semi solid mass lurch clinging to the soft bundle of nerves it grazed before crowding and rocking into it. "I'll do more than that,  _ carino _ ." His voice was low, the burn of being inside of Jack and his shadows becoming solid and slick trying to stretch and drive the man crazy with the lazy tantalizing brushes against his insides to help make the glide easier.

\-----

"Reckless?" Jack said the word with a kicking sneer. His shoulders stuttered under the control he forced through his body. Ease down onto the strange combination of flesh and smoke. Those strange tendrils returned. His head tilted to the side, sharp pants removed from his chest--yanked free by the unusual but definitely not unwelcome intruder. "Always was. First in to the fire. Last out. Had a death wish on the battlefield remember?" Jack said the words with biting mockery. A phrase used for his younger days. Reckless abandon when there was the mission and the civilian life at stake and his own suddenly became nothing more than another number on a tally sheet.   
  
The good soldier every leader wanted yet hated to command. The kid most likely to end up carted off in a body bag but thrown across a roomful of innocents as a meat shield. Jack had been called many things and reckless was high on that list. Gabriel saying the two syllable word in this heated reconnection earned a breathless whisper of harsh sentiments. "I've heard it all my life. And you're older than me." Jack snapped. A hot chortle followed. Blunt teeth grabbed the flesh of Gabriel's chest and plucked at what counted for a nipple on the man's half formed body.   
  
The tendrils inside brushed those nerves and Jack closed his eyes. His head thrown up, back arched, he pressed down until he was certain Gabriel could wind inside and disappear. Fill his entire being. Nestle against his heart like a black thing and yet precious, untouchable, wholly Jack's. He wanted that. Fought for it with his hips and body until his gut coiled and a smear of white joined the shifting black and greys of Gabriel's skin. The name of the man screamed in the tight room. Fingers clenched around themselves. His knees weak.

Jack panted. Ground down his finale. His whole body tingling in the after math. For a moment his vision whited and they were back in the bunks of Overwatch, hidden from needy secretaries and meetings, calls blocked and phones muted, enjoying the high of being caught at any moment. He stayed there in that limbo for a while, a soft serene smile tugged at his senses. Only to be brought back when his chest heaved, a thin wisp of smoke coughed out of aged lungs.   
  
Jack slide to the side, sprawled besides Gabriel and placed a hand on the thigh nearest him. He gave the flesh a tender squeeze. "Always did think these were your best asset. Crush a man's head." He chuckled, he turned, taking in Gabriel's profile and lazily drawing his fingers across the bare flesh from mid thigh to the hip.

\-----

Gabriel couldn't respond to Jack's jabs, he was lost in the feeling the tight hot grip of the body riding him and the sensation of moving through him. He was so warm. Gabriel couldn't help the desire and those tendrils pushing in deeper, deeper than they should go as he cock desperately tried to follow. Grinding and rubbing against the clenching heat that hungrily squeezed him made even better by the fact he was slicked by Gabriel. It was his essence sliding along the ripples of Jack's body and letting him more so smoothly. The bite against his chest only made him want to dig deeper.   
  
Jack was his. Being painted and marked by each little jerk or touch he could manage. His words felt like shards, delicious pain that opened him up only punched through by the lewd noises slipping out of him. He was causing that. The tremors and shake along those strong muscles were because of what he was doing, he couldn't hear the guttural growling noises slipping out of his own throat.    
  
When Jack came, Gabriel jerked him close as he sank dangerous teeth into the soft bulb of his shoulder. Scathing. He tasted copper and sunlight. The taste of it punched out a screaming winding clench that ripped through him as his form nearly gave under the onslaught shredding everything into a sheet of white. They were young again. Reckless and hiding in the closet pressed together intimately while they chuckled under their breath. No one would catch them there, at least not for another hour. Jack's eyes were beautiful in the slivers of light peeking through and Gabriel couldn't help but kiss the beautiful quiver in Jack's mouth.

He smiled as shuddered feeling himself flood Jack deeper, more of the slick black filling his ex lover. Could he really call Jack an ex-lover now? The thought lingered as he pulled Jack into a biting kiss, letting the edge of his fangs catch on his lips. Gabriel sighed as Jack slid off and he turned towards him as he reached out, letting his hand trail down the thick chest. "They still are," he hummed at Jack's comment, "I could end you like that if you like. You always did talk about wanting to die between my thighs." He wondered a long moment about his essence being inside of Jack.    
  
"Think you got enough of me in you yet?" Gabriel teased as he leaned over Jack to trail small kisses along his cheek letting them slid down to his collarbone as they lingered on his chest. "In your mouth," his hand touched gently along the thick rise, "in your lungs," his fingers slid down to the curve of Jack's stomach, "in your belly," it ended in a chuckle as he let his fingers dance across to Jack's hip, "and deeper. I won't be able to tell us apart after a while you've eaten so much."

\-----

Jack closed his eyes. Enjoyed the touches and the words to go along. He felt the way the smoke moved through his body. A pleasant but intrusive presence curled around his insides. A firm but gentle grip on his heart. Lungs brimming with the smoke and yet he felt better for the congestion. Old aches felt long gone. Jack nuzzled into the bed sheets, turned against the protests of a wrung out body and slipped off the bed. "I'm an insatiable man Gabriel. Always have been." He said. A wry wink followed, his hand ruffled through the sweat stained white hair plastered to his head.   
  
He cast a glance at Gabriel displayed on the bed. Committed to memory their time together and disappeared into the bathroom. The black slick was disconcerting but he wanted the shower. The hot water rinsed blood and stung the myriad of new marks, new scars across his person. They would join the ones already there. He was out in a matter of moments. Towel wrapped around his waist Jack returned to the bedroom. His bones ached from a lifetime of exhaustion and without a word he slipped under the covers. One hand patted the space behind him. "No blanket. I'd prefer the man if you can. Unless it's too much strain on that creaking old body of yours." Jack said with a snicker. The jab was easy, flowed with the nature of a man who didn't care yet wanted humor as a defense.   
  
Either way Jack felt himself fall under. Sleep was quick and quiet. Gentle rise and fall of his chest accompanied by the sound of intermittent snores filled the room. On a mission or in the danger zone such a noise was death. Here in the hotel wrapped in plush linen and the cool body of the one man he desperately desired the barrier came crashing down.

\-----

Gabriel snorted, "You can say that again, boy scout." It brought memories of Jack hurriedly snatching Gabriel up from his work, catching him unaware and dragging him to where they could be alone. Jack had always wanted more, more of what Gabriel could give him and he was surprised that thirst was still there. He was wondering if they really changed at all.    
  
The wraith relaxed a bit, letting his form shift seamlessly between Gabriel and monster, Jack had already seen both there was no reason to hang onto one over the other. His eyes were drifting shut in the few minutes Jack was gone and he grumbled with a pout as he slipped under the sheets and pressed himself against Jack. "I think I can handle it," there was another huff of smoke that lingered against the other man's neck before it slid around stealing some of his breath away. The tangle of their limbs was seamless. Too easy to fall back into old sleeping patterns as Gabriel tucked his head in the crook of Jack's neck. He had always insisted on being the big spoon before.    
  
It only took a few moments to fall asleep breathing in Jack and he tucked in close. There was a small chattering noise late, very late in the night as Gabriel pulled from the warm back to sit at the edge of the bed. Talon. A tablet formed in Gabriel's hands as a message came in; another mission. Tension slid into his shoulders and he looked back at the sleeping form of Jack.

The mission would take him away; it was guard duty for some infiltration. Gabriel leaned over Jack as he placed a kiss to the man's jaw, a claw resting on the naked him as he murmured small wordless comfort before he pulled away.  _ Don't get killed out there, old man. _ His thoughts stayed nestled against the back of the man he-Gabriel felt the Kevlar and leather settle over his body before he closed off his thoughts behind the owlish mask. The single shadow step took him far away and he locked the thoughts deep inside of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!
> 
> Note: _"Mi corazón late por ti. Solo para ti. Siempre lo ha hecho."_ === "My heart beats for you. Only for you. It always has."


	8. Chapter 8

Legs swung over the side of the bed, back needing to be popped, a slight headache forming just behind his sinuses, yet he groaned about the lack of company. It wasn't pathetic or silly. No Jack looked at the empty room, the empty bed, felt the ghost of a touch across his cheek, and sighed. A few weeks indeed. He was a terrible sentimentalist if he believed that time would actually be given to them. He forced himself to move. Automatic and mechanical--the motions of a man only bent on survival. Shower. Clothes. One look at the room and the memory of the night before. Check out and leave.   
  
The walk back to his dingy hole in the wall was quiet. The streets were busy with morning traffic and pedestrian life--people going on about their day but within his personal space there was only his thoughts and the notion that, somewhere, he would have to shoot at Gabriel again. What foolish part of him had convinced himself that going back to that fight would be easy ... The pier and the Ferris Wheel replayed again and again through his mind. An endless loop of a corny show that he just couldn't cancel.

He was too far to intercept the Talon infiltration. It was halfway across the globe and no flight could get him from Dorado fast enough. Teleporters were out of the question. Those required body scans and no amount of fancy tech could fake the genetic ID that former, supposedly dead Strike Commander Morrison had. Jack traveled the old fashioned way. Harder to track. At night he slept where he could, curled in threadbare blankets, and the haunting thoughts of how Gabriel was the perfect cover now.   
  
Three weeks and a handful of days found him holed up in a wasteland. Siberia hadn't been his first choice but the trace lead him here. Slipped some information from a reliable source--that girl was a motor mouth honestly--he could perhaps find secret files concerning Overwatch. Jack pressed against the building, heard the sounds of the Russian specialty mechs running through system checks, and ducked into the cover of crates. His visor scanned, spotted the warm bodies, and the head count came back far more than estimated. He cursed.

\-----

Reaper watched them, the cold having bled into him again making those nanites a chilling ice blue. His shadows were a biting chill and he swept around the side, his bulk seeping into the machinery thickening and eating away at the delicate processes as they glitched. He'd done this before, knew what parts he could pick away at to make the machines go haywire.    
  
One right bite. The large mech started to make a horrible screeching noise as its machine gun lit up the area, drawing other mechs to it as Reaper slipped out of it as it charged blindly crashing into others while he chuckled lowly. He was a seething blanket that flowed across the ground as he made his way to the nearest terminal. His claws worked quickly across it as he remembered the simple hacking techniques. He snorted at the ease of it as he took out the small USB he'd been given and plugged it in. This job was easier than most. Go in and grab the data.    
  
The download would take a few minutes, it let his mind wander. Talon had given him four more missions after the one that initially took him from Jack's side. It had been hard. A few operatives had died because of his thoughts not being all with him and he found himself hard pressed to care. Reaper was a wavering mask attempting to contain Gabriel's threading desire to return back to that room and curl back against the strong back. Every fire of his gun helped tuck that thought in a little deeper but moments like this one, where he was still and his mind started to turn. It was impossible to push away.    
  
Fighting his thoughts, he looked around, the mech he had caused to go haywire was put down and he made himself less solid. The mechs only picked up heat signatures and heartbeats. Things Reaper could go without or chill to below the human standards. An easy job like he had said. He would have the data in a matter of moments and then would be done.

\-----

The screeching of a mech sprung to life. The rapid staccato of machine gun fire igniting the enclosed space. Jack dove behind the solid barrier of a thick steel wall as the turret swung around aimed for his last position. His movements had been precise. He had taken caution when entering. There shouldn't have been a reason for the mech to fire up. The cool of his breath iced out the bottom filter of the mask. The soft blue tinge to the shadows had him seeing someone who wasn't there.   
  
He moved along the wall, head down, rifle slung across his back but within easy access. Combat boots weren't the quietest footwear but they were all he had. Moving around the corner, the mech now turned on its comrades as technicians worked frantically to get the behemoth back under control, Jack spied the hallway he had come for. The terminal should be in the third room to the left just inside. With the ruckus outside this should be simple.   
  
He slipped into the hallway. Face to face with a guard, rifle held inches from his face, Jack back stepped once. The man spouted a command in angry Russian and Jack shook his head. The man jerked the rifle towards the door signalling him to fall back. Jack's hand shot up, knocked the gun away, and dodged under. He took the other man to the ground. The rifle fired, a new burnt hole in the ceiling and half the compound alerted now. One solid hit and the guard was limp. On his feet Jack ran down the hall, skidded into the room, and jammed the USB with its rudimentary hacking drive into the terminal.   
  
He didn't have time to check what he needed. Take it all and file through the contents later. Five minutes tops. Instead the screen flashed and denied him access--a file transfer was already in progress. Jack slammed a fist on the keyboard. Fingered worked over the keys to find a way around and cursed the whole time. Leave it to the big corporations to upgrade everything but their basic computer software.

\-----

Reaper started at the sound of an alarm going off and he growled under his mask, reinforcements. His day got worse as the terminal flashed an angry vicious red. Conflict. The files were being redirected. The Reaper gave a hellish scream as he billowed in a fiery wave of icicles as he fell down on bots and infantry responding a like. He had to get to the other terminal and see what the hold up was, he froze everything his nanites touched. Boys and men froze in various poses, he didn't have time to gun everything down.    
  
A few guards gave short screams as Reaper reformed and pounced claws tearing through their noises to cut them off as his nanites swarmed, viciously tearing through and leaving some of those men as nothing but fodder for his machines. He had to turn off that alert and he spread out, seeking the heat of the source and delved into it, twisting in the delicate wires snapping through them as the base fell silent.    
  
He growled irritably. What had set off that alarm, it hadn't been his little stunt that worked like a charm always. Reaper didn't have time to think a mech fired bullets through his semi solid form and it earned a short scream as he turned on it overwhelming it with a tackle as he seethed inside, angrily ripping at its insides.    
  
An angry wave rippled and rolled into the other room and stiffened at the familiar 76 jacket facing him. A strip of fear ran through him as he bit it back. No time to think. Reaper was solid again, the heavy weight of those shotguns in his hands as he fired, letting buckshot tear through one of the large screens of the terminal above Jack's head. "Persistent old codger, aren't you?" The voice was throaty and deep as he tried to fight the resistance, the urge to turn away this one time and not fight. Not an option. He had a mission.

\-----

The sirens beat a rhythm of annoyance in his head.   
No guards yet. The door was barred from the inside yet he double checked. When the terminal beeped and the indicator flashed he smirked behind the mask. The files began processing at a rapid pace. Four minutes. The machine gun stopped. They had gotten the mech under control apparently.   
  
The chill in the air was the first warning. The exploding screen the second. Jack turned, rifle pressed against his shoulder, sights aimed at the bone white form of the Reaper. His back pressed to the console, the rifle dropped until one hand hung limp at his side.   
  
"Pot meet kettle. You're older than me." Jack snorted. The hint of ironic laughter behind the words. His body remembered the embrace of those chill hands and body. Desired it at night in whatever abandoned warehouse he located. On the lucky times he could afford a hotel he would and spend the time lying awake with the painful reminder of that one intimate moment lying heavy in his gut.   
  
His free hand ripped the electronic disruptor free from its strap. The device hit the ground and a net of electrified wire shot into the air. The aim was to disable Gabriel. Bring him down from that high horse. Jack none the less winced at the thought and reminder of the screams the first instance of using this device caused. "This old codger still has a few tricks."

\-----

Reaper made a strange grunting noise as he heard the joke and there was a vague sense of him rolling his eyes behind that mask. It hard being this close to Jack again and the tug to just drop those heavy shotguns to pull that body against his was a thick one. It was disabling. Literally in the sense he didn't move quick enough to avoid the net firing at him.    
  
It was a scream that time. The charge of electricity had him crumpled under the weight of the net tangling him, claws tried to cut at it only to get another vicious shock as he relented. An angry wrath trapped under a blanket of sparks. He was growling like an animal and he struggled violently for a few more seconds until the shocks contained him to a form stuck in a semi solid state. Every time he attempted to mist out the netting would web out and zap him again. It was frustrating. Caught with a fucking net.    
  
"Dirty tricks," the voice was seething and edged on pain, mostly pain to Reaper's pride at the fact he'd been caught. Literally caught and tangled in a net. Surprise and a trickle of pride at the clever trick mingled with the shock dipping into anger. He looked at Jack seething as much as he could from the wires and electronic shocks that kept him trapped. The mask helped hide most of the expressions slipping over his face at the moment.

\-----

He was surprised the device worked. The electricity for months ago in that small town had but using the same trick twice was risky. Gabriel was a frighteningly intelligent man. Catching him off guard had been a game of cat and mouse between them for years. That Jack could still get a hand up now and then made him smirk internally. That was cut short at the scream. He felt suddenly heavy and tight under the sound. "Learned from the best." He ground out in response. The truth was it hurt more than he let on to do this but Reaper needed to be brought in and stopped.   
  
The mantel of vigilante placed that burden on Jack's shoulders. Past notwithstanding he left Gabriel in the net, back turned to the man, ignored his goading until the files were transferred. He pocketed the USB. The alarms still blared. Jack had a small window of escape now. Produced from a satchel at his side Jack pulled out a cylinder and set off next to the net. "In you go." He said, pressed a button on the side, and a sharp suction began to pull at the shadows that now composed Gabriel. The sight hurt Jack than he knew. When it was done the rolled cloud of black and unblinking red stared back.   
  
He put the cylinder in his satchel. Unable to bear looking at the mist his former lover had become. The net was left--shorted after one use--and leaving was easy. Jack shot down a few foolish guards, nothing lethal, and escaped. Data in one hand. Gabriel in the other. Rifle against his back. A successful but painful experience. It took an hour to return to the abandoned base. Inside he had set up a makeshift living space. The container was placed on the floor. Jack hit the button, opened the top, then stepped away--rifle read for the retaliation.

\-----

Reaper gave a grunt of surprise at the cylinder and a decent amount of shock as he felt himself being drawn into it. More tricks? It was painful being pulled apart forcibly as his throat gave a guttural shriek before he found himself trapped in a strange, rather tick fitting case. He felt like he was being suffocated as he pressed against the edges, vibrating slightly in fury especially with Jack's voice having been the last thing he heard.    
  
There was a moment nothing happened before it tilted over hitting the ground as a simplythick splurge of black ooze slipped out. A shuddering gasping sound could be heard as the ooze was reconfiguring itself and a vague outline formed, it was a slow process. Painful for Gabriel as he dug in newly formed claws into the ground fighting the agony of his body being readjusted outside of the container. He would have lurched straight for Jack's throat if he had the energy, the container itself was lined with more of those hateful zapping electronics kept his nanites reformation low.    
  
It was too much effort to form the mask and claws, he just laid there feeling grumpy and pissed but too strained to do anything besides giving Jack a seething red glare as he was being put back together. "What now?" There was mostly a dry sense of exhaustion lingering in his voice, probably from being netted to be contained as he glanced at the container with a bit of wariness. "Did you ghost bust me?" He gave a harsh scoff as a hand slid over his face tiredly with a groan.

Reforming of enough nanites to use his powers would take a decent amount of time. The container had done too well of a job keeping him reduced and the net had taken a good bit of his nanites out of commission. He couldn't shadowstep or dissipate without fear of not being able to reform or call all of his nanites back together. They could only be spilt so much without a central mass to recall to.

\-----

Jack worried the measures taken to contain the wraith had gone too far. The puddle of black goo was disgusting and heart wrenching. He was the one responsible for bringing the pain to Gabriel's form. Jack stepped back, gave hehe man his space, and let him come to terms with the new surroundings and circumstances.   
  
"I guess I did." He offered with a dry laugh. Bent down, hands hanging loose between his knees Jack removed his visor and set it aside. Blue eyes blinked to adjust to the faded light of the abandoned watch point. It has been decades since he set foot in this place--the ghosts of agents long gone haunted the halls. If he closed his eyes he could imagine the hustle and bustle of the place in its hay day.   
  
Jack brought his mind back around with a blink. "I'm a vigilante. I stop the bad guys. The black get up makes you a bad guy." He waved a hand nonchalantly. Gabriel appeared to be out of commission for the time being. That let them have a moment to simply chat. Perhaps not what the infamous Reaper wanted but Jack had a job to do. "I told you I'd stop you. This information does no good in Talon's hands." Jack didn't taunt or wave the USB. It was hidden. Hold it where Gabriel could snatch the stick was asking for trouble.

"Didn't expect that to knock you flat though. Sorry about that," Jack actually sounded tired now. He pushed up and paced, ripped off the heavy leather gloves to toss them aside. His jacket was next, slipped over the side of a creaking bunk. Dressed in only a tight black shirt and his leather pants and boots Jack dared to stopped just shy of Gabriel. His bare hand reached out, touched the half formed facial features and slight beard that appeared.   
\-----

Gabriel gave a huff, "I'm what bad guys are made up of," he said in a half hearted jab back and he gave up trying to move much. His body was too busy working to fix him up to focus on smooth movements, all of his were sluggish and heavy. He just looked at Jack, "Stop me you did," it was between that line of surprise and hurt pride, "Knock me flat?" He gave a short laugh, "Did more than that, I'm a half formed puddle man waiting for my body to catch up." The edge was dipping into tired. Hungry. He was expending so much of himself to build back and replace nanites.    
  
He reflexively relaxed into the touch, mentally kicking himself from falling into the old habit. Jack looked good in the leather pants, they hugged him in all the right places. The black shirt brought out the paler color of his skin and Gabriel felt his mouth dry a bit thinking of Jack would look covered in his shadows. Wearing him. Gabriel tried to shake the thoughts out of his head but it was hard with Jack watching him with those bright eyes and touching him.    
  
"Black suits you," he said it and already regretting how it slipped out of his mouth. There was a sour taste in his mouth, he was going to fail the mission, no doubt they already knew. The base would be on high alert, files in Jack's possession and the wraith essentially missing. A hot streak of anger flashed in his mind but he couldn't do anything. Not at the moment anyway.    
  
When the touch became more firm and was sliding along his cheek he gave a harmless growl, "Jack," it felt like he was warning or at least a feeble attempt at one. The touch was too close to the ones Jack lavished him with back in the hotel room combined with the look in his eyes Gabriel almost relented. "Fraternizing with the enemy?" He turned his head into the thumb against his cheek, catching it in his fangs, pressing but not biting down. "I'm not dead I'll be fine," there was a small rumble behind the words.

"You going to put me away again? Keep me as a lava lamp?" He half teased and half questioned, the idea of his red eyes pressed to the side glaring while his essence was oozed around in the weird 80s shape brought a chuckle and a stripe of fear into him. He was curious what Jack planned to do now, it would take a few hours for Gabriel to get back to decent strength.

\-----

"Always looked better on you," Jack returned the sentiment. Matching white brows raised when Gabriel dared to latch onto his thumb. There was pressure but no real force. The threat of violence without any weight behind it. They were stuck in this destructive cycle and Jack found he didn't the snake to wise up and bite off its tail just yet. The game would end. One of them would die. There would be no more clandestine meetings for stolen touches or guns raised in the defense of their ideals. He both longed and loathed the inevitable.   
  
Gabriel was here. Talon would want their best man to report soon. Jack hadn't found a transponder to communicator but he hadn't really searched for one. The threat of capture was breathing down his neck at the time. Talon would come searching. He hadn't taken Gabriel far enough away. In a matter of days they would come calling. He was faced with the choice to leave the wraith or bundle Gabriel back into the cylinder and disappear off the continent. Explaining a crimson eyes black mass of smog in a glass container to TSA would be an interesting challenge.   
  
"That would be an insult to Lava Lamps." Jack snorted in response. He pulled away, moved around the room, grabbed his phone and flipped it open. A message was displayed on the screen.   
  
**UNKNOWN >>** Bring in Reaper. We may have a cure. Please do this as a friend Jack.   
  
"Got a notification. Not sure I will follow but if you want to let Angela try again I will take you. If not then I have no reason to hold you really. The bounty is nice but ..." Jack shrugged and rolled his shoulders. There was no way he could in good conscious hand over Gabriel. All this ideals said too but the burden of former love was heavier. For that the wraith could be thankful.

\-----

Gabriel made a dangerous, vicious sound in the back of his throat as he heard the woman's name, "She's going to fucking touch me again." He writhed on the ground as he jerked himself to sit up, his arms shaking as they pushed him up and he clenched his teeth grinding them with a painful shriek as they dragged against each other. "You don't know, Jack. Days. Weeks. Trapped under her goddamn hand as she tried to...tried to," the clench was harder and there was real fury behind those words. Choked full of agony too great to explain and a dull ache that roared in hate. His fury with Jack was only a drop in the all consuming hate he had for Angela for-- **_Mercy_ ** \--. She didn't show him any mercy, that would have been if she had left him to die.    
  
His hate for her was black. Darker than the deepest pits of Hell and he would prefer a claw around her throat, slitting her open. Mercy. What she did was steal away his death and gave him something worse, something poisonous and black. Those black eyes pin pricked with red bled a malice that made his shadows flicker dangerously.    
  
It took a long moment to recover from his fury and those eyes turned on Jack, they simmered less with anger as he was pulled back into the moment. He relaxed as he put his head back against the cold floor as those eyes fell to the cold ground he had only just managed to push himself up from. There was a slight stutter in his breath before he spoke up again, "What do you want, Jack?" The wraith could only think of the day spent being someone else, holding Jack's hand, pressing against his back.

Jack tasted like tears and moonlight. He didn't want to leave. "I want a little more time." He sighed as he said it feeling himself war with the words trying to slip out of his mouth, "Another day, another lifetime." Gabriel didn't know what he was saying as he sat up, hands resting on his legs to help hold him up as he looked at Jack. "Don't look over your shoulder so much, they already know I failed my mission. The drop off time and point is long past." A stream of black smoke slipped from his mouth as he spoke, "They're probably coming up with another mission, never time to worry about what they haven't got. A little bit of time." He hummed the red of his eyes glowering slightly in the low light.

"I can't keep doing this dance; we die or we run." He said simply as he laid out his thoughts humming a bit. "I hated what Overwatch became, I wanted it dead and gone. Buried. There's no good in being a hero, destroying yourself only to buy some time to start over again." A strain was there, "You'd die being a hero faster than being a villain. A new generation of martyrs mistaken as heros." Gabriel knew he sounded preachy but in the moment he was just done. Finished with everything.    
  
All they ever did was fight. Bloodied, tired fists that wore their minds more than their bodies. Mental blows that ripped them to shreds and arguments that made oceans between them. He was done with it. Gabriel was worn. "I always promised to take you away." There was a dry chuckle there and he looked at the ground, "It doesn't hurt to ask." He seemed to be musing over his choice of words.

\-----

It was painful but instinct. His hand raced to his hip where the pistol was strapped. The anger radiating off Gabriel was tangible. Escaping the fury was unimaginable. Angela was in danger. Jack put the phone away, clear that the offer had done more harm than good. Still his hand danced over where the handle to his pistol rested. He had to force himself to relax.   
  
Gabriel was too weak to manage much of an assault. He had said as much. Jack was perhaps too trusting. Too naive. But he wanted to believe and let himself relax just enough to sit a foot away from where the wraith struggled with himself and the mental trauma. Through the broken sentences and scattered thoughts Jack found he agreed. In more ways than one. The final nail in the coffin was the offer.   
  
"We'll never rest. One way or another I'll slow down. Trip up. You can survive but age and death are things I can't outrun so easily." Jack sighed. This was a talk he knew would come. Star crossed lovers traipsing the globe with themselves for company and content. They couldn't do such a thing. Not now. His body would give out. He would die. There was no escaping that fate. Jack faced the possibility on a daily basis with only his rifle and wits to keep that fate at bay.

He reached out, grabbed Gabriel's face between his hands and held the wraith's attention. The red eyes haunted him at night. Alone in the hotel with only memories to keep him warm Jack now found those off kilter blinking eyes beautiful. They were monstrous but they belonged to a man. A monster was his guise but there was so much more depth to Gabriel than the smoke and mirrors.   
  
"Where would we go?" Jack finally asked. His thumbs ran along Gabriel's cheeks, traced the faded and mottled flesh, teased over the fangs that peeked out just enough to be dangerous. He didn't care. Jack let his hands fall, rest on those strong shoulders, yet maintained eye contact. "I'll let you keep your promise but when I slow you down you're the one to pull the trigger." Jack knew it was risky. This whole idea was foolish. For once he wasn't a soldier. He was a man and did what his heart desired.

\-----

Gabriel gave a solemn dip of his head in agreement, "They'll come after us, me, you know? I know too much." He said it with a small upturn of a laugh in his voice, "They'd be happy to gun you down too to help tie up any loose ends. The nanites don't keep me young, Jack, they just make it harder for age to fuck me up. I'm still aging just slower. Fancy machines don't last forever." He seemed relieved and a bit put out by the fact as he said it. There was really no telling when things would go belly up for either of them.    
  
The wraith tilted his head curiously up at looking into Jack's eyes and how deeply they were pooling into him. Faintly, Gabriel could see something dark flashing across them. A figment of his imagination? The thought that Jack had eaten quite a lot of him before came to mind but it sank away as he heard the other man respond in a way he hadn't expected.   
  
"Don't be stupid," Gabriel rose up a bit straining as he leaned against Jack's shoulder, "I can always just carry you, you old fool." It took effort but the wraith put his forehead on the warm curve of the old solder, "Where was that place you kept going on about? A farm you mentioned a long time ago," he hummed as he thought about it. The thought was fumbling deep in his memories; a hushed time together again. Jack had mumbled something about a farm and how far away it had been tucked in the middle of nowhere.    
  
"Maybe not there, it's probably bare bones by now," Gabriel considered it and chimed in with a chuckle, "there's probably a nice cliff we can jump off somewhere." There was some mirth in there as he closed his eyes, "I'd prefer a nice bed for now, it'll take a while for them to realize I'm gone. We'll still be fighting, Jack, just not each other." He gave a lopsided grin at the thought.

\-----

His grip tightened unconsciously. The creak of leather and Kevlar cracked in the silence of the room. Gabriel's voice and words echoed as a backdrop. The quiet was cloying and choking and Jack was forced to look away. Over his shoulder. Old habits. "Electricity does a number on you. I guess I calibrated the voltage too high." He offered. There were no smart quips or snarky remarks. It didn't feel like the time. The conversation had turned dire.   
  
"Indiana?" Jack scoffed but didn't pull away. Let Gabriel use him as a crutch. Reforming was taking its sweet ass time and their window to escape ground close just as fast. "If I recall you never wanted to go because anything below 60 is freezing. California boy wanting his beaches and bikinis." He rested his chin against the top of Gabriel's head. Huffed in the drifting smoke. Blew it away like an errant annoyance. He was addicted and Gabriel was a deadly narcotic. "I bet you can't even surf."   
  
Jack's foot kicked the cylinder still on the ground. The container rolled away out of reach. He would need to remember to pack it--hiding Gabriel so easily was an option he wanted to keep. Letting the container stay behind, the idea that Talon or even Overwatch could find it, discover its purpose and ruin them... Jack shuddered at the thought of being forced away again. His arm gripped protective around the wraith's malformed shoulders. "We'll just right the same battle. Father Time has earned a good ass kicking I think." Jack snorted. "Think you can move? I have sensors but the sooner we can leave the better. I'll carry you to the car even you cripple."

\-----

Gabriel snorted, "As long as I get to see a farmer's tan on that sweet ass, I could make an exception." He could smell Jack from close he was along with hear the slightly sped up pattering of his heart. "I'm a faster learner," there was a slight pout in that voice and he slipped his arms around Jack's shoulders to brace himself.    
  
"Yeah, I can move. Car? How do you keep finding those pieces of junk?" He snipped as he still held onto Jack as an anchor to pull himself up, there was a bit of unsteadiness but he stood well enough as he compacted himself thick enough to be considered solid. Gabriel needed to work on packing his smoke closer to himself, odd tendrils floating off of him could hurt while they ran. It felt like a childish thing to do; just run away from their problems. He had always wanted to do it before and now they were doing it much later than he thought either of them would live.    
  
He shook his head with a small laugh, "We might as well be kids again at this rate, Jack. Soon we'll be rutting in dark alleys and you'll be calling me  _ papi _ ." The sounds there were only good natured and with a bit more of a grip on himself he covered himself in a thick black coat and a medical mask across his mouth. "Get your stuff, old man, let's get the fuck out of here." Gabriel wanted to act on this impulse, this impossible little dream they had before he lost his nerve and they lost their courage to take it.   
  
Once Jack finished getting all of his things, Gabriel slid out to the car and shuddered at the icy blast murmuring under his breath about how much he hated the cold. Bundling up in the car he looked like a grumpy pile of blankets as his mind was still racing about what they were doing. Parts of him were screaming at how bad of an idea it was, they would get themselves killed pretending to be young again. Gabriel found in the end, he was okay with that. Let them die doing something interesting. Any time left was good enough.

\-----

Jack snorted. The idea of a farmer's tan on his old skin was ridiculous. Maybe when he was twenty and strapping and didn't have the hint of loose skin around the edges. When abs were a thing and his face didn't show the wear and tear of a lived life. Wistful thoughts all of it. "If I told you I would have to kill you." Jack smirked, taking Gabriel's weight. There wasn't much there. Half formed and barely solid he was surprised out how little the wraith actually weighed.    
  
Once Gabriel held his own Jack packed up what little was in the room. The cylinder was the last, shoved to the bottom of rucksack, to be protected but ignored. Gabriel was not some half crazed monster that required containment. Keeping the device was merely to keep it out of the hands of someone with nefarious plans. Jack rolled a shoulder, stretched until the kink popped out of his back, and followed the trail Gabriel left. Outside was a mess. No snowstorm or anything yet but the chill had Jack laughing. Mostly because it was cold and the man he knew and the cold here didn't get along.   
  
Bobbing into the driver seat Jack started up the engine whistling a tune. It was for no other reason than to irk Gabriel. The old soldier even tossed another moth eaten blanket over the wraith. Three and he looked the very definition of miserable. Cold by nature Jack could only imagine what additional chills would do to what remained of Gabriel's body. "Let's get to the airport. I have two tickets to paradise," he said the last in a sing song and taunting manner. The words turned to lyrics in a heartbeat.

\-----

Gabriel groaned at Jack comment he had forgotten the man's love of making ridiculous jabs and realized he would find himself at the butt of them now. The thought was mortifying and reassuring simultaneously. He attempted to sink into the blankets further as more of that chill got to him and part of him rattled restlessly at the cold.    
  
Small tendrils from it tentatively reached out, recoiling at a brisk brush of an icy breeze before touching Jack's leg. Feeling a bit more brazen from touching warm skin it seeped under the leather idly stroking the heat coming off from him. There was a roll of relief as a bit more pressure pushed against the warm thigh. "At least you're still hot blooded." A chuckled rolled out of the pile before they managed to get to the airport. It was nice despite the chill and Jack's butchered attempt at singing. "You sound like a yowling cat in heat,  _ carino _ ." He made a jab and seemed to shrink in a bit more as they rolled up to the airport.    
  
"I'm not going to be able to become solid enough to not make a scene," the low growling voice was there as a multitude of red eyes looked up at Jack, "You feeling hungry?" They looked amused, very amused for Gabriel. "The only way to get me through the detectors is to let me crawl inside you." He chuckled at the imagery it brought up and the pile of blanket slid a little bit closer, "I'll try not to rearrange your insides while I'm there."

\-----

"Better in heat than dead," he bit back between lyrics. He really was a terrible singer. He knew it. Didn't stop him from enjoying the moment of tormenting the sulking smoke monster... lover. Jack grunted. Labels could come later. The sentimental side could stay down until after they were away from immediate danger. Getting into the teenage debate of dating or not dating. Friends or more than friends. Liking someone or like liking someone was for idiots and fools. They were past that. He hoped. That little voice in the back of his head screamed a very proud no. That and the intrusive cold and lingering touch off Gabriel's tendril hand thing across his thighs. It was moldy distracting.   
  
The airport itself was impressive. The car would just be dumped in the lot. They weren't coming back for it so paying to leave it seemed irrelevant. Jack leaned back in the seat, looked out at the planes coming and going. Getting Gabriel past security without question was going to be tricky. Until his suggestion anyway. Jack eyed the pile of blankets warily. That tone in that voice always meant trouble. Always. Really though there didn't seem to be another way. The cylinder was out of the question. The device would only do more harm than good. Jack wasn't keen on locking Gabriel up for hours either. The potential of not being able to reform at all hung in the air. His hand slapped the steering wheel, a sound of eureka filled the cabin.   
  
"As amusing as that would be, I've a better one." Jack fumbled around with his rucksack. A few shirts were moved out of the way as he pulled a used and depleted bionic emitter from the bag. "Think you can fit in this? Might work better than my old man insides." Jack wasn't so much opposed to the idea of letting Gabriel ride shotgun in his body as he was to the idea of what kind of mischief the wraith could get up to when he inevitably got bored.

\-----

"Come on, Jackie, I've already been inside you one way or another," Gabriel let a pout slid into his voice as he wriggled around in the blankets, "What's the harm in letting me get a little bit deeper for a few hours?" If Gabriel could form enough to bat eyelashes at Jack to stress his innocent he would have, thought a sneaking bit of him thought maybe it would give away his underlying curiosity of doing it. He mutely wondered how Jack felt on the inside, all squishy organs and the beat of his heart pumping blood through his veins.    
  
The thought of it curiously intrigued Gabriel and Jack was warm on the outside, he felt a shudder go through him at how hot he'd be internally. Jack had always been warm to the touch, no matter the situation and this one gave Gabriel quite the appeal. Being a cold, writhing wraith had its downsides. "I'll be good, I promise." There was that little excitement in Gabriel's voice that really did it. He  **_wanted_ ** to be inside Jack as strange as that sounded. "Besides, it'll be cold in that emitter," he grumbled under his voice as he crept closer to Jack touching his hand with another one of those shy little tendrils.   
  
Keeping an eye around them, the small puddle of thick shadows slipped from the pile of blankets as it crept toward Jack. There was small rippling set of eyes looking at him gleefully as if this was Christmas as the black film slid over his arm and draped around his neck. There was an oddly strange pressure as the nanites broke apart to push deeper into his skin, sinking into his flesh.    
  
"Breath in deep, Jackie." Part of the puddle dissipated into a smoky cloud hovering around Jack's face.

\-----

The crude statement earned a quick of a white brow. The crassness of the words caught him a little off guard admittedly. Gabriel could be a smooth talker with the best of them but the nitty gritty dirty talk wasn't his style. Romance them with a silver tongue not jump them by talking about how good of a ride he was. Jack blinked when the blankets seemed to just melt. What weight that lay against disappeared. Gabriel silken voice crawled into his ear. The presence of the nanites crawling across his skin unmistakable. Just enough pressure to be pleasant. The string of vehement curses that followed exhaled in a single breath.   
  
Without resorting to another round of electric shock therapy and catching himself in the crossfire Jack knew his options were limited. There was no fighting the smoke Gabriel could become. With a groan he buried his face in his hands, rubbed his fingers across his forehead to ease the tension gathering there then lay against the seat. Blue eyes stared out at the parking lot. The flight was seven hours. It left in two. They needed to get through security. The eyes with their crimson gleam of innocence were the last straw. Jack laughed full bodied until his shoulders shook with the power of it. "Fuck it." Jack did as instructed and breathed.

The smoke assaulted his senses. His eyes watered and he coughed as the mixture of gas and liquid slid down his throat. It settled in his chest cool and unpleasant. Like congestion he couldn't shake no matter the amount of gagging he induced. Jack shook his head, rubbed the back of his neck to ease the pins and needles before flipping down the discover mirror.   
  
"None of that or I'm throwing you up." He blinked at the strange black eyes that stared back. Not until the color drained did he get out. His rifle would have to be left behind. Pistol too. He left them in the back of the truck--hopefully the elements would ruin them before they were discovered.   
  
The trip through customs and boarding was uneventful. His alias checked out. One kind old lady offered him a drop when he couldn't stop coughing. She said something that amounted to he sounded like death warmed over but assured her it was just a chest cold. Still they put him through a body scan and Jack threw the appropriate amount of a fit To throw suspicion that he was anything other than a normal traveler.   
  
Once in the plane he settled against the window. Business class was worth the legroom and space. The ball cap pulled down over his face, the jacket hide his mouth, looked all the world like another man trying to get some shut eye. "Hope you're enjoying yourself. My lungs aren't."

\-----

There was a lazy weight sloshing comfortably in Jack's lungs as soon as Gabriel managed to press in. He was a scorching wet heat and so soft inside, each motion was accompanied by thrums of motion through Jack's body. He perversely wondered why he hadn't invaded someone's body before. It was nice. While Jack made his way through security and the desk, he concentrated on letting parts of himself seep in deeper.    
  
Threading through more of Jack's body, it was easier because curiously enough there were still lingering remnants of himself from what Jack had breathed in before. The bulk of him remained comfortably seated in Jack's lungs, spreading thin a bit to not cause so much irritation while the rest hooked into various parts of Jack he couldn't wait to flex. He was a small thrum of excitement as his host settled enough in his chair, it was strange being in so deep because he only had a vague sense of where they were.   
  
Gabriel could Jack loud and clear though as part of him was curled up a little further, "Oh, I'm real comfortable." There was something dangerous in that tone as Gabriel figured it was safe enough of Jack was murmuring sweet nothings to him. He experimentally solidified a bit of himself to leisurely slide and squeeze Jack's kidney, not enough to make it revolt violently but enough to make it shudder.   
  
It was oddly appealing to stroke Jack from the inside like this he could easily shuffle the pressure to dance along the sensitive shuddering pieces inside of him. One loose stroke under his stomach and squirming it along the flat muscle to trail across his liver. "Oh, Jackie, you're so soft and squishy." Gabriel was partially surprised at how husky that purr came out of him as he spoke directly into Jack's head.

\-----

The trip through the airport was an experience. At the prodding of his insides, Jack flinched. By the third or fourth tentative poke he hated to admit to getting used to the feeling. It was still stranger--very much so--but the heaviness and sinking sensation in his gut had become 'normal'. As normal as having an ex-lover, former enemy, all around spoopy man nestled against his kidneys. The weight to his lungs was still bothersome. It made breathing a bit hard, found him out of breath after the jog to catch the flight. He glared at his reflection in the window hoping that Gabriel could perhaps see the spiteful look.   
  
"I'll bet," Jack let the venom of annoyance drip from the tone. The pinch to his kidney got him to jerk up a bit. Turning in the seat, attempting to get comfortable, he gave the elderly woman who settled down next to him a half hearted reassuring smile when she cleared her throat.   
  
"You alright sonny?" She asked. Jack groaned. The same time Gabriel decided his liver needed a good massage. Jack stiffened, ducked his head down to hide the way he worried his bottom lip. The leathery hand of the old woman settled on his bare arm and squeezed like a worried mother. "Scared of flying? It's alright."   
  
"Just nervous. Take off always makes me jittery." Jack responded with a wave and an attempt to calm the woman. Gabriel rolled around on his stomach. One hand reached down, jabbed into the pocket of his jacket, and Jack smacked the fist against his gut with a cough.   
  
"It's going to be alright sonny." The old woman's hand hadn't moved. Still stuck on his bare arm she patted the skin before taking her seat. The pilot signaled for take off. Her hand stayed there the entire time, gentle pats to reassure him while Gabriel rolled around like a hyperactive kitten on the inside.

The combination of turbulence from take off, Gabriel's misbehavior, and the kind elderly lady's good intentions, Jack's stomach heaved. He grabbed the baggy and lost what little lunch was in him. A few drops of black oozed out of the corner of his mouth. He quickly wiped them away. The woman, whose name was Beth she told him, made soft cooing noises while rubbing his back. "There there. I've got you. The worst is almost over." She said softly as the plane leveled off.   
  
Jack groaned, fell back into the seat, dropped the soiled back into the chair in front of him, and closed his eyes. One arm was thrown over his eyes, the ball cap removed with the movement. "Ma'am. I'm fine. Really. Just get the nerves on flights-"   
  
"No no. It is fine sonny. You're about the age of my son, Sam, and he always has trouble with flights. It really is no trouble." She bent down and pulled out a huge purse. The thing was the size of a saddle bag and just as full. "I have some medicine here that might calm your stomach."   
  
"Ma'am I'm certain I'm fine now." Her finger pressed to his lips and silenced any further complaints. The look of a mother who had raised one too many petulant children. Jack wondered how old she even was that she could call him 'sonny'. "Here it is." She pulled out a bottle of familiar pink medicine. The cap was popped and she doled out some liquid into the makeshift bottle then handed it over. "Take it. Promise it will help."   
  
Jack took it and drank it down, prayed it would bother Gabriel the entire way down.

\-----

"Yeah, sonny, ole Gabriel will make  sure you're taken care of," The voice was chuckling full of amusement and playful mirth, a dangerous tone for something buried in Jack's body. There was a moment of stillness, where Gabriel didn't seem to do anything while the plane rumbled. It seemed he might have even gotten the message and was going to play nice.    
  
As soon as the plane nosed up into the sky, there was a rather curious sensation threading lower, a gentle slow caress around Jack's bladder dipped to feel like small threads circling and gripping his groin. It was a burning almost painful feeling that danced between gentle and prickly. Gabriel was lacing into his veins sending a strange warm vibrating sensations even lower. "Oh, Jackie, I don't think you did a good enough job getting me out of you." The voice was dangerous.    
  
It took all of no time for something to swell and stretch inside of Jack, leisurely flexing and gaining girth inside of his body as it rocked not quite thrusting but swirling as it thickened. Gabriel gave a low chuckling noise, "Hey, Jackie, wanna join the mile high club?" The next rock inside dug in harder, those wet tendrils breaking off and slipping in deeper as one of them squeezed, rolling around the tender bundle of nerves.    
  
Gabriel was simulating as though Jack was being fucked and thoroughly as the slow thrusting was only paired by the reflexive squeezing digging into his prostate. His nerves were on fire in his lower body firing off sensations as though his thighs were being clawed and scratched along with a biting feeling on the inside of his throat. The feeling of teeth sinking into the pale strip of his neck and heavy sharp sensations running over his chest akin to when Gabe scratched him.

Beth looked worriedly at Jack, "Are you alright? You look a little pale, son. Here, I've got some medicine for that fever." She dug in her bag focusing hard on the small packets that were in her carry on just in case she needed to save the day. After decades of raising children and grandchildren she knew just what this man needed!

Gabriel chuckled darkly in Jack's head as the thick, fattening sensation stretching him to his limit was moving harder as the broken off tips squeezed harder, one flared as it flicked teasing the sensitive nerves as the clawing pressure deepened as though he was nearly being gored. "You feel good, Jackie, tight and warm." The wraith knew what he was doing and even though he was certain there would be severe consequences he couldn't care less. Whatever happened would be worth torturing Jack near this old woman who was pestering to help.   
  
The black ooze Jack hadn't managed to get out of his mouth rubbing against his tongue slipping into the further part of his tongue as it stroked it lazily thinning as it wrapped around the heavy wet muscle reenacting the feeling of a drawn out kiss. Parts of it dug in like how Gabriel's teeth would.

Beth looked at Jack worriedly before looking back into his bag, "You look like you're having a lot of trouble there, son. Should I call the attendant?" She reached out to touch his forehead to check his temperature.

\-----

Jack glared at the seat in front of him. Arms shoved into his pockets, shoulders hunched forward trying to hide the burgeoning awareness within his system. The occasional concerned glances from the kind old woman were agonizing. The silence from Gabriel as the plane took off was too good to be true. Jack wanted to bang a foot against the bottom of his seat in frustration but with the way little Miss Beth was tutting about made that impossible. Any outward sign of emotion would quickly negate way Jack was trying to dissuade her from any further concern.   
  
The collar of his coat covered his mouth as he murmured in a dry threat, "Gabriel. You won't like what happens when we land if you try something." The soldier turned on his hip, away from the old lady. Immediately she pressed a hand against his shoulder. Jack glanced over the collar of his jacket. "I'm fine really. Just going to try and get some rest."

"Alright sonny. If you are sure. I'll have some water and a blanket brought over for you." She smiled and her eyes lit up with the emotion of a woman just trying to do good. The same time he went to thank her and dismiss the  offer Jack's eyes slammed shut as a shudder racked through his body.   
  
"Gabriel! Stop screwing around-" The sentence was cut off when Jack was forced to bit his tongue to keep the moan from escaping his mouth. Legs and ankles crossed to keep his hips from responding to the stimuli. The swirl was one thing. The first thrust and Jack squeezed against the intrusion. It felt good and the wave Gabriel cooed into his mind was down right sin. Then Beth cut in and he nearly lost it.

The way the thickness moved faster had him move from stretched out on the chair to hunched over, arms tucked under his chest to hide the rather obvious effect Gabriel's fun was having. One hand shakily pulled free, tugged the hat down over his forehead. Jack couldn't stop the groan this time. Beth wasn't helping. The pills were offered in a bare hand into his vision. He shook his head then her hand found his forehead. There wouldn't be a temperature. Not one on the outside anyway.    
  
The pinprick of nails on his neck. The way the black ooze was frenching his throat and coated the back. Each hit to his suddenly overstimulated nerve. Jack shuddered, eyes clamped shut. The sound of the call attendant button going off almost went unnoticed. His eyes snapped open, glanced at Beth just as the woman started explaining the situation to the flight attendant. The two women looked at him and Jack did two things: squeezed his eyes shut and let out the lowest, harshest moan. His face was instantly crimson and over heated. He didn't move away from the hunched position.

"Sir? Are you alright? There is a doctor on board. Do you need me to bring them up here?" The attendant asked. Beth looked the part of the attentive and concerned mother. Jack just shook his head.   
  
"I'm... I'm fine. I'll be fine. Just a stomach flu." Jack slammed a fist against his chest, body still quaking from the torture Gabriel was having the utmost glee inflicting. He prayed the wraith couldn't read his mind. It would make revenge so so much sweeter. "Water is all I need."   
  
Beth relayed the information to the attendant even if the other woman had already heard. The woman came back with said drink a second later. Jack took it with a forced firm hand, downed the liquid, then shoved down the two pills Beth had given him as well. He didn't ask what they were. Just swallowed them. Maybe they would have an ill effect on Gabriel. Small victories maybe.   
  
"Those are sleeping pills. Should take the edge off sonny. Get some rest. I'll watch your stuff." Beth patted Jack's arm then pulled out a book. Glasses perked on her nose and she soon seemed lost in the novel. Jack thanked his stars. Grinned at the idea of putting his body to sleep--maybe it would put Gabriel to sleep as well. No more of this nonsense.

\-----

"Come on, Jackie, not having fun?" Gabriel was having fun. Even more so with all the concerned people as he gave an uproarious laugh in Jack's head at the gathering of individuals swamping Jack to see if he was alright. It was too good. A perfect little torture and Gabriel moved harder and faster.    
  
The thick tendrils filling him began to thrust against his already viciously squeezed prostate doubling the sensations as the small amount of black that had seeped to Jack's skin made an unfortunate appearance along his thigh. It took it no time to go straight for his crotch and began hugging around his cock, acting like a lazy hungry mouth that teased the tip before engulfing the whole length as it dragged a textured flutter on the underside.    
  
"Oh, there's no escaping this," it was a strange feeling as Gabriel moved down into his stomach sloshing with the pills as he caught them and gave a rough, strange rub against the inside of the sensitive muscle there. "This is going to be the whole flight, Jackie. A whole  **_seven_ ** hours." The laugh sounded a little more evil this time as a tighter grip firmly settled on his crotch rocking with the bumps of the flight as though a head was nuzzled there sucking at a rolling pace.    
  
" _ Vamos ,Jackie, darle a papi un sabor, _ " It was a husky whisper trailing along Jack's ear and slipping down his neck as the sharp pin prick of a bite settled along his collarbone. A pressure settled on his hips almost like it was rolling him onto the thick tendrils stretching the man much wider than he'd been opened before, the sheer number of them working further while punishingly grinding into his swollen prostate was almost painful.

At the last hour of the flight, finally stopped as he ebbed from all the torture he'd layered on Jack. Doing it for so long stressed what strength Gabriel had as he begrudgingly had to settle himself in the safety around Jack's stomach. He had pulled a little from Jack's lungs  so the man could breath but he was still toying with him somewhat as he lazily sloshed around his organs. "That was fun." His voice was a chuckle as Gabriel could minutely feel the rage seething off of Jack and part of him wondered what exactly the other man would do to get back for it.   
  
"Where are we anyway? Not like I can see much all cuddled up in with your sexy liver and kidneys." Gabriel huffed swirling around as he pushed up trailing the inside of his ribcage pushing against it but carefully avoiding his heart and lungs.

\-----

Overstimulated. Over sensitive. Jack growled as he curled into a ball on the somewhat spacious business class seat. Tiny pins ran across his skin. They hit all the worst points and brought only more and more to the surface. Every thrust set frayed nerves on fire. He stayed curled, one hand clenched around the fabric of his pants until the material began to protest the abuse. A few fingers even punched through leaving a decent sized hole. His other hand was white knuckled on the armrest. The cheap plastic cushion turned to mush under the pressure.   
  
Any words of snark retort died between each moan. Every orgasm became more pain than pleasure. He felt the sweat coated the back of his shirt--only the thick material of his jacket kept it from being too obvious. At some point Jack's stomach heaved again and the pills plopped harmlessly into the back. He growled wordless knowing their removal was Gabriel's doing. The feeling of something rolling in his stomach didn't assuage that assumption.   
  
The attention from His elderly neighbor and now the flight attendant (who cast concerned glances at his chair every time she passed) added fuel to the fire in his gut. Not the one Gabriel was merrily stroking like a kid with a new toy. No a fire for revenge and Jack was already plotting the best way to get back at the wraith for six fucking hours of this stunt.   
  
The moans he couldn't contain by the third climax. At this point he stopped waving away help. The doctor was called. Tried to examine him but when Jack refused to unfurl it took about half a dozen people to grapple him into submission. And Gabriel kept up the torture. The doctor diagnosed it as something--he didn't hear--but they escorted him to a first class chair, laid out the bed, and closed the curtain. He suffered in silence after that.(edited)

By the last hour Jack was wrung dry. He felt his boxers clinging in places he didn't want to think about. The doctor have him direct orders to see a local physician and he was the first one off the plane. EMT stood at the gate. Not really given a choice in the matter Jack followed. His bag was grabbed by Beth and she saw him off with genuine well wishes. The emergency crew loaded him into the back of an ambulance but he refused the trip to the hospital.   
  
"I'm fine. Just got a little air sick." The staff eyed him critically but there wasn't much to be done now. Jack staggered away. Sore and holding down grunts of acute pain with every step. The hotel wasn't far. His alias was retired military so that had its perks. The lady at the front desk took in his appearance and despite her wide eyed expression checked him in.   
  
Before heading to the room Jack stopped at the gift shop, grabbed what he needed, then headed to the room. Once inside and behind the closed door he fell face first into the bed. Purposefully he gave Gabriel the silent treatment. Didn't answer the questions because the wraith honestly didn't deserve such a nicety.   
  
"Get. Out." Jack snarled, huffed with his face pressed into the covers. His pants needed to be changed. He needed. A shower. A hot bath maybe first. A massage. A cold drink. The list went on. "Gabriel get out and see for yourself." He puffed again, watched the smoke drift from between his lips and rolled over onto his back.

\-----

Gabriel gave a chuckle in Jack's head as he slowly worked his way through Jack's insides, some of him slipping out along Jack's thigh while some dissipated and slipped out of his mouth and nose. It was an itchy heavy feeling slipping out of him but it was painless. Gabriel felt stronger than he had been though he had expended a lot of energy relentlessly teasing Jack during the flight. He had laughed himself hoarse once he got a handle on what exactly was going on outside of Jack.    
  
The amount of people who had been so concerned at the hot blooded embarassment that had filled Jack was pure gold. He was warily, especially skeptical about when Jack would strike and get his revenge. It took a full minute to completely slip from Jack's warm insides as he took a mostly solid form as he was all shit-eating grins and a warping face before he went to a window curiously taking in the sights.    
  
It was beautiful outside; a lovely beach and sun drifting along the water with golden sand pushing out toward the heavy deep blue it touched. "Wow, I don't know if this is cheesy or romantic." Gabriel murmured to himself as he saw it and sat down in a nearby chair to simply stare outside. They had been to the islands before but it had all been mission purposes, not time to stop and smell the roses so to speak. Looking out at the scenery he felt better about what they were doing. Gabriel had to move all of the money he'd gotten from being under Talon's employ but it would be more than enough to let them hop around, to disappear. He could get into this kind of life as long as he could torture Jack.    
  
"You done seething?" Gabriel couldn't keep the small laugh out of his voice as he turned to see if Jack was glaring holes through the back of his head like he felt like the man would be doing.

\-----

As Gabriel moved out he sighed and stared out the floor to ceiling window. The view was fantastic. The day was just getting into that pre dusk hour when the old retired and the young woke up. Jack rolled off the bed. He grabbed the bag from the gift shop and disappeared into the bathroom. The shower took all of five minutes. Changing even less. He ran a hand through his hair to somewhat tame what was there before exiting. The last item held in a nondescript cardboard box. He caught the tail end of Gabriel's taunt.   
  
"No." He replied with just enough venom to be believable. The box was set down. He rummaged through the one bag--spare clothes brought out, the cylinder, a handheld taser, and a few other things. Dressed as he was in a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts he looked the part of the weary traveler. That suited him just fine. Jack messed with the box, opened it, and produced the lava lamp from inside. Pretty and pink he unscrewed the top to open the thing proper.   
  
"Never could get these things to work. Always wanted one." Jack groused and messed with the ancient trinket. He tried flicking the switch on the chord but to mo avail. Plugging it into a different socket didn't seem to work either. His body was a mess of soreness and each movement reminded him why he was doing this. Gabriel wouldn't get off scott free. No fucking way.

\-----

Gabriel chuckled at the toxic edge in Jack's tone and felt he was somewhat out of the clear, if the man was still seething he would probably pout until he was kissed silly then the anger would be gone in a forgotten poof.  After looking out at the beach a little longer and feeling the nudge to out there he decided to see what kind of thing Jack was fiddling with.    
  
He strode over in a few steps leaning over Jack as he peered down at what he was doing. Gabriel wasn't sure what he expected but he didn't expect to suddenly end up flat on his ass because of a sharp wave of sparking agony as he dropped to the ground. He was too stunned to really scream or make any noise but the wraith was down like a sack of potatoes.    
  
"Did you just," Gabriel groaned loudly as he tried to move but he felt stiff as a board and pain still dug in deep, making his stomach twitch violently from where he'd been jabbed with the sparking device he could now see in Jack's hand, "tase me?" There was disbelief there and he mentally recoiled seeing the container again. "Jack, what are you doing?" A trace of real fear slipped into Gabriel's voice as he looked and saw the absolute poison in Jack's gaze. Oh. He fucked up big time.

\-----

Perhaps it was sadistic. Even a little out of character. But the embarrassment on the plane and the torment for six fucking hours ... Gabriel earned this. Jack ignored the question. Smirked at the hint of fear in the other man's voice. Steady hands snatched up the cylinder and he watched as the smoke and nanites were sucked inside. The glowering red eyes stared back at him. Jack merely tapped the glass, made sure the electric component was turned off (no need to be that cruel), and cupped his hand over the lava lamp. Through careful maneuvering he dumped the wraith into said garish ornament and sealed it.   
  
"I know you can hear me so listen," Jack crouched and held the gaze of half a dozen glaring red orbs. The smoke turned the pink lava a sickly hue but the blobs still moved and at least Gabriel would be warm inside there. Good thing it was battery operated as well. "Six hours. That's how long your staying in there. You think it's funny to torture an old man." Jack snorted.   
  
He snatched up the lamp, put the cover over it to hide the sickly color inside, and made his way downstairs. The beach wasn't too terribly crowded. He rented a chair and umbrella, dressed like a tourist, and ordered two beers. He plopped down into the beach chair. He lamp was set next to him. With a grin Jack leaned the second beer against the glass.   
  
He clinked them together, gaudy overly large sunglasses decorating his face. "Cheers Gabe. And Merry Christmas." He laughed around the rim of his own beer bottle and enjoyed the scenery. He would enjoy five more hours of a grumpy lava lamp monster boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We wanted to share this with more than just the people on the server because we're pleased with how it's turning out.  
> Kudos are appreciated! Comments are adored and always replied to!
> 
> Note: _"Vamos Jackie, darle a papi un sabor."_ === "Come on Jackie, give daddy a taste."


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